Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu underlined his “unconditional readiness” to resume talks with the Palestinian Authority today (Thursday, Sept. 10) in London with his British counterpart, Prime Minister David Cameron.
Speaking to reporters prior to their meeting, Netanyahu said, “I want to say here, at 10 Downing that I am ready to resume direct negotiations with the Palestinians with no conditions whatsoever to entering negotiations, and I am willing to do it immediately.”
Cameron added in his remarks that Britain “remains staunch in our defense of Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.”
There have been scattered pro-Palestinian and BDS (boycott, divest and sanctions) demonstrations in the area where meetings are taking place. However, security personnel are ensuring the protesters are kept far from the Israeli officials and their staff members.
Netanyahu and his wife Sarah arrived Wednesday for a two-day visit. Wednesday evening the Israeli prime minister met with British Jewish leaders and told them to avoid being apologetic when defending Israeli actions.
“This is an important struggle for public opinion and it has to be done with determination while saying in a clear voice that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and is standing at the front in the struggle against radical Islam,” he said.
Netanyahu noted at the outset of his meeting with Cameron that the Middle East is “disintegrating” in the face of radical Islam. The prime minister pointed to the damage being spread by Shi’ite Islam embodied by Iran and the Sunni extremism of Da’esh (ISIS), and said he wanted to discuss with Cameron ways to “roll back the tide of militant Islam both in the Middle East and North Africa.”
A third issue he wanted to raise with Cameron, he said, was the progress being made in Israeli and British centers of technology, and exploring what might be accomplished in various technologies by working together.
