Israeli PM may accept Obama’s Palestine deal

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu may accept US president Barack Obama’s key demand to publicly accept the idea of a Palestinian state.

Despite American pressure, Netanyahu has not completely endorsed the concept of a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict so far.

Sources, however, claimed that the picture might change soon.

Israeli experts say Netanyahu's acceptance of a Palestinian state is likely to be laden with a lot of conditions.

“If we do, we're going to hear it, with a lot of reservations with a lot of conditions,” Sky News quoted Jerusalem Post’s political editor Gil Hoffman, as saying.

President Barack Obama has been demanding progress towards a Palestinian state and also a complete end to Israeli settlement construction.

Netanyahu’s aides say his right-wing coalition partners could desert him and destabilize his government if he moves too much in Washington’s direction.

His government has already promised to honour all previously signed international agreements.

The roadmap is one of them, a six-year-old peace plan that includes the goal of a Palestinian state.

By publicly backing the roadmap for the first time, Netanyahu could give the nod to the two-state solution and hope not to alienate his colleagues in government too much.

If he attaches new conditions to his acceptance of two states, he may even be seen to have hardened his position.

And he is not expected to give much ground on the issue of settlements and that question remains at the core of the current rift with Washington.