June 14, 2009
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will back a Palestinian state - but only if it is completely demilitarised.
He said a Palestinian state must have no army, no control of its air space and no way of smuggling in weapons.
In a landmark speech, weeks after the US president urged him to agree a two-state plan, he said the Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state.
Palestinian leaders reacted angrily, accusing him of sabotaging peace plans.
The White House said President Barack Obama welcomed Mr Netanyahu's "endorsement" of a two-state solution as an "important step forward".
The BBC's Paul Wood says Mr Netanyahu broke ground by accepting the principle of a demilitarised Palestinian state, albeit with conditions.
But our correspondent says the question is whether the White House regards this as sufficient to make up for the lack of movement on the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In his keynote Mid-East speech in Cairo on 4 June Mr Obama stressed that he wanted all settlement activity to stop....
BBC News June 14, 2009
Picture, Palestinian women walking along a street in Jerusalem
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