Israel ready for peace talks without preconditions - paper
20/04/2009 11:39 TEL AVIV, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Israeli prime minister could drop the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state by the Palestinian government as a key condition for peace talks, Haaretz said on Monday citing a senior Israeli government official.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "will sit down to negotiate with anyone who wants to without preconditions," the official in the prime minister's bureau told the newspaper.
The official added however: "If the Palestinians do not recognize the Jewish state, this will make progress toward two states for two peoples difficult."
Media reported earlier that at the meeting with U.S. special envoy George Mitchell last week, Netanyahu said he needed to know the Palestinians' position before he declared support for the principle of "two states for two peoples."
The Netanyahu's newly-formed government has announced plans to revise Israel's approach to the Middle East peace settlement and promised to define its political strategy in the coming weeks.
Talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, launched after a peace conference hosted by then U.S. president George Bush in November 2007, have stalled. Israel launched a major assault on Gaza in December in response to rocket barrages from the Hamas-controlled region.
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