'Netanyahu failure to back two-state solution harming Israel'

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Last update - 20:48 06/06/2009

'Netanyahu failure to back two-state solution harming Israel'

By Haaretz Service

Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu's failure to declare support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is causing "significant" damage to Israel, former ambassador to the United States Sallai Meridor said Saturday.

"There is, in my opinion, significant political and moral damage in not saying: At the end of the road, I'm ready for a Palestinian state," Merridor told Channel 2.

Merriror's comments came after U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to Palestinian national aspirations on Thursday during a speech to the Muslim world in Cairo.

The former envoy, who was recently replaced in the top diplomatic post by academic Michael Oren, explained that Israel's small size and relative lack of power meant that it could not afford to appear to alienate the international community by refusing to support the establishment of a Palestinian state, under certain conditions.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090738.html