Israeli PM says his 2009 two-state speech "no longer relevant"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that his 2009 speech that supported the establishment of a Palestinian state was "no longer relevant," a Likud spokesperson told Xinhua.

The Likud party's election headquarters published Netanyahu's words in response to queries from Israeli reporters over a Likud campaign leaflet dispersed over the weekend in several synagogues, in which the Likud party declares that the Bar Ilan 2009 speech is annulled.

The leaflet also said that Netanyahu had "fought his entire life against the establishment of a Palestinian state."

In June 2009, Netanyahu expressed his support for a two-state solution, with a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel, which would recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

However, the Likud party spokesperson said on Saturday the leaflet only expressed the personal view of a Likud parliament member Tzipi Hotovoli.

On Sunday, the party issued a statement to the press in which it expresses the same sentiment that appeared in the leaflet.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in the situation of the Middle East, any territory that would be evacuated would be grabbed by the extremist Islam and terrorist organizations supported by Iran," the statement read.

"Therefore, there should be no withdrawals or concessions, since it is just no longer relevant," it added.

The hardline stance of the Likud party comes two days after the Yedioth Aharonot newspaper published a document containing what they said were concessions that Netanyahu was willing to reach a framework agreement in 2013, prior to the recent round of U.S.-mediated negotiations, which took place between July 2013 and April 2014.

According to the document, Netanyahu was willing to withdraw soldiers and evacuate settlers from vast parts of the West Bank, lands Israel occupied amid the 1967 Mideast War, exchange some territories of major settlement blocks with Palestinian territories within Israel, among others, all key Palestinian (and international) demands for a two-state solution.

In January, Netanyahu said in an interview to the Channel 2 news that the Bar Ilan speech did not expire, but "the Palestinians had violated its contents."

The last round of negotiations, mediated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, ended in April in standstill. Israel made stern security demands from the Palestinians and the Israeli prime minister slammed the Palestinian Authority for not recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.

Following the end of the negotiations, the Palestinian Authority approached several international treaties in order to push for unilateral moves in order to establish a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu and his government blamed the Palestinian Authority over the unilateral moves, as well as for what they said is "incitement" causing sporadic attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the Israeli government halted in recent months the transfer of tax money it collects from the Palestinians in the West Bank on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

Last week, the Palestinian Liberation Organization party voted in favor of suspending security coordination with Israel in the West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hasn't officially announced whether he will follow through on the party's decision. Endit