Israel's Prime Minister has laid out his plans for a two-state solution to solve the Arab-Israel conflict. However, he said that the new Palestinian state would have to be demilitarised.
In his speech at Bar-Ilan university, Mr Netanyahu said that he would back the creation of a Palestinian state only if it had no army, no control over its air space and no way of smuggling weapons into the country. He also said that Palestinians must accept Israel's existence as a Jewish state if there was to be a solution to the problem.
His comments have sparked outrage from Palestinian leaders who have accused him of sabotaging the peace talks. Despite this the Obama administration had praised Mr Netanyahu's endorsement of the two-state solution as an "important step forward" on the road to peace. Hamas, however, has said that the statement from the Israeli PM has shown his "racist, extremist" ideologies.
For Palestinians recognising Israel rules out any hope for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees, displaced in the 1940s when the state of Israel was created. Many Palestinians currently live in asylum in neighbouring Arab nations or in the overpopulated West Bank and Gaza Strip, where the population density is 4,118 per sq. km (10,665/sq mile).
Mr Netanyahu's speech comes just weeks after President Obama set out his administration's plans for relations with the Middle East. Obama's speech urged leaders on both sides to push forward with a two-state solution and also called for Israel to end it's settlement activity.
Whilst Netanyahu did agree to talk with Palestinian leaders without preconditions, he made clear that he would not prevent the "natural growth" of existing settlements and stressed that it was not the settlers who were "enemies of peace".
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