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Fresh Off His Victory, Netanyahu Softens Comments On Two-State Solution

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn't even formed a government yet, after his victory in Israel's election this week. But he's already walking back some of the comments he made in the final days before the vote, when it looked like his party might lose.

On the day before the election — Netanyahu said there would be no Palestinian state if he were in power. But in multiple interviews with U.S. media yesterday, he's already clarified those comments.

"I don't want a one-state solution," he told NBC News in an interview. "I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution."

And to NPR's Steve Inskeep, he said: "I don't want a one-state solution, but I certainly don't want a zero-state solution, a no-state solution, where Israel's very existence would be jeopardized. And that's what the people of Israel overwhelmingly elected me to do."

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson talks to Dov Waxman, professor of political science, international affairs and Israel studies at Northeastern University about what Netanyahu's new tack means for the region.

Guest

  • Dov Waxman, professor of political science, international affairs and Israel studies and co-director of the Middle East Center for Peace, Culture, and Development at Northeastern University.

This segment aired on March 20, 2015.

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