Netanyahu Issues Peace Deal ‘Demands,’ Hints at More

Peace Talks Seen as Getting Off on Shaky Footing

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today issued a number of demands for any potential peace deal reached with the Palestinian Authority. Though thedemands were largely the same issued (and rejected) before, they also include some new ones and hints that even more may be in the offing.

Netanyahu is demanding that the Palestinian Authority embrace Israel as a “Jewish” state and pledge to abandon any future demands against Israel on any basis. This would include reparations for territory seized and a complete abrogration of the “right of return” for Arabs expelled from Israel in 1948. Both demands are likely non-starters.

Netanyahu also pledge to seek “real security arrangements on the ground” to ensure that Israel would obtain essentially eternal military and border control over a nominally independent Palestine. This has been hinted at in the past but the exact details of how it would be accomplished remain to be spelled out.

At any rate the peace talks appear to be on the verge of collapse even before they have started, as Netanyahu’s demands as well as forthcoming settlement expansions look to derail the talks in comparatively short order.