Palestinians angered by Netanyahu peace terms

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian officials sought U.S and European help to salvage foundering peacemaking on Monday after tough terms laid out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but they stopped short of refusing to resume negotiations.

Palestinian disappointment was echoed in capitals across the Arab world, where leaders accused Netanyahu of setting more obstacles in the path of an already stymied peace process.

Laying out his Mideast policy in a speech Sunday, Netanyahu bent to U.S. pressure and backed down on decades of opposition to Palestinian statehood. He invited the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world to resume peace talks.

However, he removed from the negotiating agenda the fate of Palestinian refugees displaced by Israel's 1948 creation and said Israel would retain sovereignty over all of Jerusalem — two issues previous Israeli governments had agreed to negotiate.

Netanyahu also said he would keep building in Jewish settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians, despite a U.S. demand for a complete freeze. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would not resume talks unless Israel honored previous pledges to halt construction.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's speech was so riddled with conditions that he "left nothing for negotiations."

But he said the Palestinians didn't want to be cast in the role of rejectionists and didn't rule out the resumption of talks that broke off late last year.

"Netanyahu wants to put us in a situation where he looks like he offered something, and we said no," Erekat said. "Netanyahu's speech was very clear. He rejects the two-state solution."

Erekat said he contacted American, European and Russian mediators in the wake of the speech and urged them to hold Israel — along with the Palestinians — to their obligations under previous peace plans. Israel is required to halt settlement construction, while Palestinians are asked to rein in militants.

Abbas's popular support has been slipping because of failed attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Israel. He would likely lose credibility at home if he resumes negotiations without a halt in settlement construction first.

Netanyahu spoke after months of pressure from Washington to endorse Palestinian statehood, as successive Israeli governments before his have done.