Israel can make peace with PA but not Hamas: Netanyahu

"I don't think we can make peace with an organisation that seeks our destruction. That's Hamas. I think we can make peace with the Palestinian Authority. It requires a lot of courage from our side, from me.

And it also requires courage from Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority," Netanyahu told Fox News in an interview.

"It's going to be a very tough negotiation, but one that I think our peoples are ripe for. Is Hamas going to be a part of it? No. As long as it wants to destroy Israel, it's not going to be a part of it," he said ruling out any talks with Hamas at this point of time.
"Now, at this point, I could tell you we'll never negotiate with the Palestinian Authority as long as Hamas is in Gaza. That's not my position.
I think we should get on with it and seek to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

We'll have to deal with Hamas later," he said.
The Prime Minister said he thinks there is no substitute for getting into direct talks right now and seeking to break this logger jam, to actually go ahead and try to negotiate a final peace settlement.

At the same time, he remained non committal if a Palestine State is possible by 2012.
"I think there can be a solution. It may be implemented over time, because time is an important factor of getting the solution, both in terms of security arrangements and other things that would be difficult if they're not allowed to take place over time," he said.
Netanyahu said one should stay focused on the real problem in the Middle East.
"It's not Israel. It's these dictatorships that are developing nuclear weapons with the specific goal of wiping Israel away," he said.