Natanyahu hints at placing IDF forces in PA state after any deal.

Netanyahu is hinting that he believes IDF forces should be able to continue to operate within the borders of any new state of Palestine, and is citing historical precedents to back up his position.

Germany, Japan and South Korea have had foreign troops on their soil for an extended period and nobody said that was “an affront to their respective sovereignties,” Netanyahu said, referring to US troops that were stationed in those countries following World War II.

Netanyahu said he did not believe an international force would be able to provide Israel with the security guarantees it needed, and that “the only force that can be relied on to defend the Jewish people is the Israel Defense Forces.”

It's a non starter and further proof that the peace talks are doomed as long as Netanyahu is in power.

Why would the Palestinians accept the presence of the IDF on the soil of any new Palestinian state? Does Netanyahu imagine that their liberation should feel no different from their occupation? That the people who dropped white phosphorous on them will remain on their soil after they have won their liberation?

Netanyahu has on numerous occasions said that an Israeli presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state, meaning along the Jordan River, would be necessary to prevent the type of arms smuggling taking place from Syria to Hizbullah in southern Lebanon, and from Egypt to Hamas in Gaza. The prime minister stressed the need for solid security arrangements on the ground so as not to repeat the mistakes made in Lebanon and Gaza.

One seriously wonders how negotiations can possibly succeed when both sides are starting so many miles apart.

Netanyahu is asking Obama to release Israeli spies - and offering to continue the settlement freeze for a mere three months if his outrageous request is granted - and imagining that he is being reasonable.

Now he is demanding that the new Palestinian state should look and feel no different from the occupied territories.

Negotiating with Netanyahu must be exhausting. He comes at every argument from the most extreme position - like, free my spy and I will obey international law for three months - and imagines that he is somehow offering a concession. That he is the one prepared to make sacrifices for peace.

The prime minister said the idea of coming to a framework agreement within a year was his idea, and that “If I have such a partner who is prepared to make a historic compromise, as I am, I think one year should be enough time.”

What historic compromises does Netanyahu imagine that he is offering? He is being outrageous and yet imagines that he is offering "historic compromise".

The IDF operating on Palestinian soil after a peace deal is simply unacceptable. Netanyahu must know this.

How serious is this man about peace whilst making these ridiculous demands? Demands that he must surely know are completely unacceptable?

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Tags: Netanyahu, Israel, Palestine, peace talks