Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to a joint session of the United States Congress later this month will not include Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, local news website Ynet reported Thursday.
The report quoted anonymous Likud Party sources "close to Netanyahu" as saying that the premier, who is scheduled to give the speech on May 24, will announce that Israel is not willing to withdraw from the West Bank territory, nor offer any other concessions.
"We shall oppose any call for negotiations based on the 1967 borders, but nothing major will happen should the prime minister address annexing the settlement blocs," a Likud source was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Netanyahu's long-anticipated speech is expected to outline a diplomatic initiative to revive the Middle East peace process. The U.S.-brokered peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down last September when the former refused to extend a 10-month freeze on the settlement construction in the West Bank.
U.S. officials are reportedly hoping that Netanyahu will present concessions generous enough to enable both sides to return to the negotiating table. According to local media reports in recent weeks, Netanyahu is set to offer a withdrawal of Israeli military troops from certain areas in the West Bank over a five- year period and a gradual transfer of control of those areas to the Palestinian security forces.
Netanyahu is reportedly also contemplating to offer a solution to the Palestinian refugees issue, in which some of them would be allowed to settle in Israel, as well as Palestinian sovereignty in East Jerusalem and international oversight of the city's holy sites.
Israeli government officials, however, estimate that Netanyahu will not declare willingness to negotiate on the basis of the 1967 borders or to cede east Jerusalem, but will rather present conditions to resume the peace talks with the Palestinian National Authority, according to Thursday's report.
A Likud source said Netanyahu's speech was originally planned to be a "security-oriented Zionist speech."
However, the premier may tone down his speech pending the nature of strategic guarantees he may receive from U.S. President Barack Obama prior to going up to the podium.
"The meeting with Obama may change the picture and the content of the speech may change tactically," a Netanyahu associate was quoted by Ynet as saying.
Obama is also expected to lay out his own vision for "political change in the Middle East and north Africa" in an address which White House officials said would come "fairly soon," according to The Jerusalem Post. Obama is scheduled to travel to Europe on May 22 for meetings with the European Union leaders, and may decide to give his address prior to Netanyahu's.
The Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement is said to further hamper efforts to reignite the peace process. The pact, recently signed in Cairo, calls for the creation of a national unity government and elections within a year.
Netanyahu urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas not to form an alliance with Hamas, a group whose official charter calls for the destruction of Israel, saying that Abbas will have to choose between a "path of peace" with Israel or allying himself with the Islamic group.
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