JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel wants to keep its troops on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state.
Palestinians reject the idea and have proposed an international force along the West Bank’s border with Jordan as part of a peace deal.
Netanyahu told U.S. Jewish leaders in a conference call on Monday that “the only force that can be relied on to defend the Jewish people is the Israeli Defense Force.”
Netanyahu says an international force can’t ensure Israel’s security. He fears Palestinian militants will attack Israel from within a Palestinian state if Israeli troops are withdrawn from the West Bank-Jordan border.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas maintains that an Israeli troop presence would infringe upon Palestinian sovereignty.
