Binyamin Netanyahu has attempted to row back on his declaration that he would not allow the creation of a Palestinian state, amid mounting international criticism of comments made before his decisive election victory on Tuesday.

In his first interview since the vote, Netanyahu said: “I don’t want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution. But for that, circumstances have to change.”



Speaking to MSNBC, Netanyahu denied that he had retreated from his comments on Monday, when he unequivocally ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“I haven’t changed my policy,” he said. “What has changed is the reality.”

The embarrassing retreat came as the White House hinted that the US could stop protecting Israel at the UN and international institutions if it was not committed to a two-state solution – a key long-term policy in Washington. Officials have also suggested that the US might back a UN resolution recognising a Palestinian state.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest warned that the foundation for its policy for supporting Israel had been “eroded”.

“Steps that the United States has taken at the United Nations had been predicated on this idea that the two-state solution is the best outcome,” he said.

“Now our ally in these talks has said that they are no longer committed to that solution. That means we need to re-evaluate our position in this matter, and that is what we will do moving forward.”

Netanyahu’s post-election interview came as he intensified efforts to put together a new rightwing Israeli coalition government involving his far-right ally Naftali Bennett of the pro-settlement Jewish Home and ultra-orthodox religious parties.



Meanwhile, a key Palestinian figure, Saeb Erekat, said that the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation had instructed officials to begin work on ending security cooperation with Israel, one of the key underpinnings of the Oslo Peace Accords.

In the interview, Netanyahu implied he remained open to the possibility of new peace talks, saying Israel would “need the recognition of (a) Jewish state and real security in order to have a realistic two-state solution”.





But his comments are unlikely to cut much ice with Obama administration officials who largely blame him for undermining the Middle East peace process, not least through his policy of settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Speaking shortly after Netanyahu’s interview, Earnest issued a blunt rebuke for the prime minister.

“What is apparent is that in the context of the campaign and while he was the sitting prime minister of Israel, he walked back from commitments that Israel had previously made to a two-state solution,” Earnest said.

He also repeated a denunciation of Netanyahu’s “cynical, divisive election-day tactics”.

Obama’s press secretary again condemned the prime ministers’s attempt to rally support with incendiary remarks about a high turnout among Israeli Arab voters. Netanyahu used a 28-second video on election day to warn that Israeli Arabs were being bussed to the polls “in droves”.

In the MSNBC interview, Netanyahu dismissed allegations he was racist. “I’m not,” he said.



In an apparent attempt to mend relations with Washington – already badly damaged by his decision to accept a Republican invitation to address Congress earlier this month – Netanyahu said that Israel has “no greater ally” that the US.

“There are so many areas where we must work together with the United States,” Netanyahu said in an interview with NBC. “America has no greater ally than Israel, and Israel has no greater ally than the United States.”



“We have to consult each other, not have fiats or unilateral imposition, but negotiated peace with our neighbours and support between allies.”

Netanyahu’s invitation to Congress by John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, was seen by many as a partisan stunt designed to embarrass the White House, but the Israeli prime minister insisted that he had not intended “any attempt at partisanship or any disrespect”.

The significance of Netanyahu’s remarks ahead of the elections was picked up by Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, speaking to journalists after a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee.



That meeting asked senior officials to examine how to implement the decision of a lower council and how to end security cooperation with Israel, who said that Netanyahu’s comments on a Palestinian state only confirmed what Palestinians already know.

After the meeting, Erekat told reporters on Thursday that the Palestinians are already working on plans to halt the security ties which would be complete within two weeks. Pressed by reporters on whether the long-threatened step would actually be implemented Erekat insisted: “I can assure you that something will happen.”