Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN that he would not commit to a two-state solution to Israel's ongoing conflict with Palestinians.
He stressed that rather than talking about labels, he would like to talk about substance.
“I've discovered that, if you use labels, you're not going to get very far because different people mean different things when they say 'states.’ So rather than talking about labels, I'd like to talk about substance,” he said.
Netanyahu’s comments contradicted those of US President Donald Trump, who expressed public and explicit support for the two-state solution after meeting Israel’s PM on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
He said that he told Trump that the state of affairs he would like to see was a Palestinian self-government in a demilitarized state with "none of the powers to threaten us."
He added that Israel must have overriding security control in such a situation.
"Israel has to have the overriding security, not the UN, not Canadian Mounties, not -- I don't know -- Austrian or Australian forces -- Israeli forces have to have the security control, otherwise, that place will be taken over by Islamist terrorists, either ISIS, Hamas, Iran or all of the above," Netanyahu said. "And that's my condition."
Palestinians, however, rejected this condition.
“We would only accept an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” said Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
“Not a single Israeli soldier will be accepted to remain on a Palestinian land,” he stressed.
As for the Middle East peace plan the Trump administration has said it is formulating, Netanyahu said he would look at it "with a keen and open mind because I know there's great friendship to Israel."
"I always said that I'm willing to look at peace proposals put forward by the United States," he added.
