Binyamin Netanyahu\u2019s speech on the future of the Middle East peace process may have been the first time the Israeli Prime Minister publicly acknowledged a Palestinian state, but its lack of specific details prompted a bewildering array of responses, locally and internationally.<\/p>\n
The United States and the European Union found themselves agreeing with the Yesha council, which represents Jewish settlements in the West Bank, in welcoming the Prime Minister\u2019s address at a Tel Aviv university, while Hamas joined with the Israeli far-right in condemning it.<\/p>\n
Most Israeli commentators poured scorn on the talk \u201d\u201c short on detail, and placing strict limits on any future Palestinian sovereignty \u201d\u201c but agreed its main audience had been President Obama, who has bluntly told the right-wing Israeli Government to accept a two-state solution and stop settlement building.<\/p>\n