Deputy PM: Netanyahu will offer Abbas less than Olmert

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will offer Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fewer concessions in peace negotiations than his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said Thursday.

"Abu Mazen won't get from Netanyahu what Olmert agreed to give him," said Meridor, who is also intelligence and atomic energy minister, using Abbas' nom de guerre. He made the comments at a conference in Tel Aviv.

Meridor's comments came after Netanyahu declared in a major policy speech Sunday that he supported the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state and called for immediate peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

The deputy prime minister said that maintaining the status quo in the Palestinian territories was "not an option" for Israel.

"The Palestinians must show that that they are undergoing a change that will lead to an accord. A Likud prime minister has said he accepts a demilitarized Palestinian state, and the question is now about which way Abu Mazen will choose to take," he added.