JERUSALEM – In a speech seen as a test of Obama administration influence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday offered conditional support for the establishment of a Palestinian state but refused to bring a halt to expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank
He also imposed new conditions on peace talks, demanding Palestinians explicitly recognize Israel as a Jewish state and agree not to have an army. Palestinian leaders immediately rejected both.
"It is impossible to expect us to agree in advance to the principle of a Palestinian state without assurances that this state will be demilitarized," Netanyahu told hundreds of supporters at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv. "On a matter so critical to the existence of Israel, we must first have our security needs addressed."
The speech, Netanyahu's first major foreign policy address since he took office 10 weeks ago, creates a quandary for President Barack Obama, who has called on the new prime minister to accept Israel's previous commitment to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and to embrace a two-state solution.
The White House praised Netanyahu's speech as an "important step forward" and offered implicit support for the prime minister's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish nation.
"The president is committed to two states, a Jewish state of Israel and an independent Palestine, in the historic land of both peoples," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Leaders of the pro-Western Palestinian Authority have repeatedly recognized Israel and the two-state solution.
But Palestinian leaders have rejected recognizing Israel as a Jewish state because one-fifth of the country's population is Arab.
"We were hoping after President Obama's speech we would get flexibility," said moderate Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti. "This proved that Netanyahu is no partner for peace."
Netanyahu's speech came 10 days after Obama, in a historic Cairo address to the Arab and Muslim world, called Israeli settlement construction an unacceptable obstacle to Middle East peace. But Netanyahu defended the settlers as Jewish pioneers and indicated he would continue to support settlement construction in the West Bank.
The issue is likely to remain center stage this week when Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, an ultra-nationalist who opposes major concessions in peace talks, makes his first visit to Washington as his country's top diplomat.
"Obama's prestige is on the line, particularly with regard to the settlements," said Yossi Alpher, a former official with Israel's Mossad spy agency and co-founder of the bitterlemons.org Web site. "But I don't think this is going to be a catalyst for new negotiations because there's just not enough there."
One surprise was Netanyahu's failure to give a prominent mention to Iran, where street protests followed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president. Israeli leaders often refer to Iran and its nuclear program as the greatest threat to Israel.
But Netanyahu made only a passing reference to Iran.
Dion Nissenbaum is the Jerusalem bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers.
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