Americans for Peace Now: Netanyahu coalition doesn`t bode well for peace

Americans for Peace Now are skeptical of incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promise to pursue peace with the Muslim and Arab world.

"The long-held positions of Netanyahu and his coalition partners do not bode well for peace efforts," Debra DeLee, APN's president and CEO, said in a statement.

"Netanyahu refuses to endorse the two-state solution," she continued. "His foreign minister [Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman] is a hate-monger; several of his coalition partners support the most extremist West Bank settlers and their messianic vision; Netanyahu reportedly gave his promise to coalition partners to build new settlements in crucially sensitive areas such as the Jerusalem - Ma'aleh Adumim corridor."

"We find all these alarming," DeLee concluded. "They threaten Israel's security and stability and leave very little room for hope for progress toward peace. We can only hope that Netanyahu will realize that extremist dogmatism must be abandoned at the threshold to the Prime Minister's Office, to be replaced with pragmatism".

The National Jewish Democratic Council, meanwhile, congratulated Netanyahu on his new coalition, saying it "embraced" his dec;ared commitment to work for peace.

"It is clear that the Obama Administration is committed to working with the Israeli government toward peace with the Palestinians and throughout theregion," the NJDC said in a statement. "Similarly, we embrace Prime Minster Netanyahu's commitment that 'Israel will be ready to make extensive efforts on behalf of a genuine peace.'"