Future Palestinian state must be demilitarised: Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that a future Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarised to prevent Iran setting up a proxy state in the West Bank. "We must ensure that we achieve a peace that is anchored in security, the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that a future Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarised to prevent Iran setting up a proxy state in the West Bank.

"We must ensure that we achieve a peace that is anchored in security, the only peace that will endure is a peace we can defend," Netanyahu said, speaking to some 7,000 members of Toronto's Jewish community at a pro-Israel rally.

"A future Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarised."

Netanyahu is on a visit to Canada ahead of a trip to Washington to discuss with US President Barack Obama fragile US-brokered indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel has pushed for the talks to focus on security.

Netanyahu said that after previous Israeli withdrawals from southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, the areas were taken over by Iranian-supported Hezbollah and Hamas.

"We cannot afford to have that mistake repeated a third time, we cannot afford a Iranian presence on the hills over Tel Aviv." he said.

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