Israel denies Netanyahu's 2009 speech "no longer relevant"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not say that his 2009 speech, in which he supported a two-state solution to end Israel's conflict with the Palestinians, is no longer relevant, a source in the prime minister's office told Xinhua on Monday.

The source clarified that Netanyahu "did not say the speech was voided," however, he did not specify whether Netanyahu continues to stick with the 2009 speech, known as the Bar Ilan speech, in which the prime minister said he would be willing to have a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The official's words come a day after a statement issued by the prime minister's Likud Party claimed that Netanyahu finds the speech "no longer relevant."

Israeli journalists sent queries to the Likud party on Sunday, after on Saturday, leaflets dispersed in several synagogues on behalf of the Likud party said the speech is annulled.

Following the queries, the Likud party campaign's spokesperson issued the controversial statement.

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

Therefore, there should be no withdrawals or concessions, since it is just no longer relevant," the Likud statement read.

In January, Netanyahu told the Channel 2 news in an interview that the Bar Ilan speech did not expire, but that "the Palestinian have voided its contents."

There have been various reports in the past week, amid the upcoming March 17 elections, over Netanyahu's stances on the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians.

On Friday, Hebrew daily Yedioth Aharonot published a document containing alleged concessions Netanyahu was willing to make for the Palestinians in order 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).

Among others, Netanyahu's said concessions included willingness to withdraw soldiers and evacuate settlers from vast parts of the West Bank, from lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, exchange several territories with major Jewish and Palestinian populations.

The Likud party denied Netanyahu agreed to these concessions, saying the document is an American proposal not adopted by the Israeli prime minister.

The Jewish Home nationalist party, which is competing with the Likud party over the votes of far-right voters in the upcoming elections, attacked the Likud over the publication for the alleged concessions to the Palestinians.

The last round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians ended in April as the talks came to a standstill. Israel made stern security demands and Netanyahu slammed the Palestinian Authority for not being willing to officially recognize Israel as the Jewish state.

Israel officially suspended negotiations in April after the establishment of the Palestinian unity government with Hamas.

The Palestinians, on their part, decried the Israeli foot dragging in the negotiations and its continuing construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem settlements.

The Israeli-Palestinian relations further deteriorated in recent months, with a deteriorating security situation, and clashes over the Palestinian Authority's international diplomatic attempts to unilaterally establish a Palestinian state and end Israeli occupation, and its recent move joining the International Criminal Court in the Hague in order to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes.

Since the Palestinian Authority joined the ICC, Israel had enacted sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, withholding over 100 million U.S. dollars in taxes it collects on its behalf.

On Thursday, the Palestinian Liberation Organization party voted in favor of suspending the security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, which dates back to the 1993 Oslo Accords. Endit