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 | | The heat is on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from within his own party to resist US pressure and not utter the words "Palestinian state" in a keenly-awaited policy speech. "The expression Palestinian state should not be used," Likud MP Miri Regev said on Thursday, echoing the sentiment of several other members of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party ahead of Sunday's speech. To date, the hawkish prime minister has not endorsed the concept of a Palestinian state and has defied US pressure to freeze construction activity in West Bank settlements that are home to more than 280,000 Israelis. Netanyahu hopes that his landmark speech will help ease the mounting tension in relations with the United States,Israel's prime ally. But he faces a delicate balancing act if he is to avoid infuriating his partners in the governing centre-right coalition, which is divided between those who reject a two-state solution, and those, like Defence Minister and Labour chief Ehud Barak, who support it. Regev insisted that US President Barack Obama cannot force decisions upon the Israeli government. "The US pressure is mainly psychological; one should not forget that the president is not the only one in the United States, there's the Congress and the Senate, which supportIsrael," she said. Also among those pressing Netanyahu to steer clear of the concept of a Palestinian state is Benny Begin, a minister without portfolio and son of former premier Menahem Begin. "If the only solution is two states for two peoples, then there is no solution," he said. Begin insisted that the Palestinians were not after a two-state solution but wanted a "two-stage solution at the end of which there would be a single PLO-Hamas state." Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau from the far-right Israel Beitenu party insisted that in any case Israel "has no Palestinian partner with whom to negotiate." "In the Gaza Strip, there is some kind of a terrorist state in the hands of Hamas, while (Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas) does not control the Arabs" in the occupied West Bank, Landau said. Netanyahu also faces pressure not to cave in to US demands that he order a freeze on all settlement construction activity in the West Bank, something to which Israel committed to under the 2003 international peace roadmap. But President Shimon Peres, who has been discussing the planned speech with Netanyahu, said that Israel and the Palestinians should agree on a Palestinian state with temporary borders as a first step towards ending the conflict. "The roadmap outlines a clear path and (the sides) should implement the second stage of the roadmap -- declaring a Palestinian state with temporary borders," said Peres, whose office is mainly ceremonial. Visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged the premier to commit to the concept of a Palestinian state being created alongside Israel. "I would like to hear a speech in which there's a commitment of the government to the two-state solution, a commitment of the government on the question of settlements and a commitment to re-initiate relations with the Palestinians," Solana told journalists. "This is what we expect to hear and I am sure that we will hear something of that nature," said Solana, who held talks with Peres and other Israeli government officials on Thursday. According to the Haaretz newspaper, Netanyahu is to announce his government's adoption of the roadmap and the two-state solution while rejecting a settlement freeze and insisting Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state. But parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin wasn't convinced. "I don't believe the prime minister believes in two states for two people," the Likud MP said. |
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