Here is the complete transcript from Netanyahu's speech this evening at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. 

Quotes of Interest: 

"I turn to all Arab leaders tonight and I say: ' Let us meet. Let us speak of peace and let us make peace. I am ready to meet with you at any time.  I am willing to go to Damascus, to Riyadh, to Beirut, to any place- including Jerusalem.' I call on the Arab countries to cooperate with the Palestinians and with us to advance an economic peace. An economic peace is not a substitute for a political peace, but an important element to achieving it. Together, we can undertake projects to overcome the scarcities of our region, like water desalination or to maximize its advantages, like developing solar energy, or laying gas and petroleum lines, and transportation links between Asia, Africa and Europe."

"I turn to you, our Palestinian neighbors, led by the Palestinian Authority, and I say: Let’s begin 
negotiations immediately without preconditions. Israel is obligated by its international commitments and expects all parties to keep their commitments."

"We want to live with you in peace, as good neighbors. We want our children and your children to never again experience war: that parents, brothers and sisters will never again know the agony of losing loved ones in battle; that our children will be able to dream of a better future and realize that dream; and that together we will invest our energies in plowshares and pruning hooks, not swords and spears."

Also, the quick reference to Iran at the beginning was rather bizarre. I really thought Netanyahu would play up the Iran issue in light of the weekend's events. It would have been a good chance for him to signal to the Likud folks that he is still as hardline as ever while simultaneously playing on the international discontent with Ahmadinejad's reelection.

-Evan 

In a story that has been festering on the back pages all week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to give a major foreign policy speech Sunday evening.

The exact content of this speech is anybodies guess. Reports have surfaced that he will back the formation of sovereign Palestinian state, although it is clear that this move would put him at odds with hardliners in his own party.

It is also unclear how the apparent reelection of Iranian hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will effect Netanyahu's strategic calculus.



-Evan