JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a meeting with peace activists that he is prepared to continue negotiations with the Palestinians.
“I am ready now to go to Ramallah or any other place in order to meet and hold direct negotiations without preconditions,” Netanyahu told three representatives from Women Wage Peace at a meeting Tuesday in Jerusalem. The prime minister’s peace envoy, Isaac Molcho, also attended the meeting.
“We want to conduct negotiations with the Palestinians,” Netanyahu said. “The solution is two states for two peoples – a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the national state of the Jewish people.
“If you intend to meet with Abu Mazen,” the prime minister said, referring to the nom de guerre of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, “tell him that I am ready to meet if he is.”
The group last week ended a 50-day protest fast held in a protest tent outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, calling on Netanyahu to sign a peace agreement.
The number of fast days was meant to represent the 50 days of last summer’s Gaza war. Participants fasted in shifts of 25 to 50 hours.
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