Policy Shift

Israel to Negotiate on Palestine Borders

Willing to restart peace talks.

The never-ending border feud between Israel and Palestine may be on the brink of compromise. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly ready to negotiate peace talks as they were laid out in a speech President Obama gave in May. Obama proposed that the two countries negotiate a deal based on the pre-1967 border lines "with mutually agreed swaps, so that the secure and recognized borders are established for both states." Though Netanyahu initially misunderstood the president's proposal and angrily declared that Israel would not withdraw from the entirety of the West Bank, he is now willing to work within Obama's "framework." Palestinian officials have said they have not yet received any proposal from Netanyahu. Debates would still rage over sharing Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said a border agreement would be the first step in defusing tensions surrounding those issues.