Netanyahu backtracks on plans for fresh peace talks

JERUSALEM, June 30: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backtracked on Monday on proposals for a new Middle East conference to break the stalemate in peace talks, an idea condemned by Arab nations as another delaying tactic.

Netanyahu said at a press conference with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Anzar that such a multilateral conference could not alone restore the peace process and could come only after implementation of the interim peace accord with the Palestinians.

“It would be a good idea, after the completion of the interim agreement, to resume the multilateral talks that were stopped several years ago,” he said.At the weekend, Netanyahu called for a new conference in Madrid where the peace process was launched seven years ago to revive multilateral talks focused mostly on regional cooperation, which have been stalled for two years. Netanyahu said the Arab world’s immediate rejection of the proposal indicated a “chemical reflex action in which everything that Israel raises isautomatically shunted aside.”