George Stephanopoulos' One-on-One with Benjamin Netanyahu

April 19, 2010— -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down for an interview with "Good Morning America" anchor George Stephanopoulos on April 18, 2010. The following transcript of their interview has been edited for clarity.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for doing this.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Thank you. Good to be with you, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: It's pretty clear that the U.S.-Israel relationship has … hit some hard bumps in recent weeks. Who's to blame for that?

NETANYAHU: Oh God. I think with any family, with any relationship, the relationship of allies, even your relatives, you have ups and downs. You have disagreements. But I think this relationship between the United States of America and the people of Israel is rock solid. We … have a great … I would say a great conformity of interests and values that will … get us through this. And we'll try to work out the disagreements in a way that is commensurate with that spirit.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about some of the disagreements. The President -- you met with the President on March 23rd. It was an extraordinary visit-- to the White House and no public pictures. The President apparently kept you waiting-- while he went up and had dinner and left you waiting in the Roosevelt Room.

And it's been reported that the President made several demands. That Israel freeze all settlements in East Jerusalem and that Israel be prepared in these indirect peace talks to start to talk about the substance on … boundaries. On Jerusalem. On refugees. Have you told the President that … you're prepared to meet the demands he set out?

NETANYAHU: You know have so many assumptions in that question so let me parse them out. One, I don't know how the meeting was perceived but I don't think there was any such intention on the part of the President. I think we have some outstanding issues. We're trying to resolve them through diplomatic channels in the best way that we can.

Second, on the question of Jerusalem we've had-- not my personal policy but the policy of … all governments including Yitzhak Rabin's, Golda Meir's, Shimon Peres for the last 42 years. Now the Palestinian demand - and I don't … I'm not saying what the American position is. But the Palestinian demand is that we prevent Jews from building in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. That is, you know, that is an unacceptable demand. If we made it in London or made it in New York or in Paris, people would cry foul.

The issue of Jerusalem would be discussed and will be discussed in the final settlement and negotiations. But to bring it forward, to say that these neighborhoods that are part and parcel of … Jerusalem, they're not isolated hilltops in the West Bank. They're about four minutes' drive from here. About 200,000 Israelis live there.

The (pronunciation unclear) neighborhood that was -- in the news was populated by Yizhak Rabin. He wasn't against peace. Neither were all the other prime ministers, including until a year ago, that were building in these neighborhoods, these Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. And the Palestinians were negotiating peace with them. This demand that they've now introduced, the Palestinians, to stop all construction, Jewish construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, is totally, totally a nonstarter.

Because what it does is prevent peace. Suppose I reversed it. Suppose I said to the leader of the Palestinian authority, 'You know, that in all the final peace settlement negotiations the right of return, the flooding of Israel with refugees, would … not take place.'

Suppose I said to him, 'I want an indication now, before we enter indirect negotiations, that you dismantle some of these refugee camps. Dismantle four houses of refugees to show your commitment.' You would rightly say, 'Ah, Israel is trying now to load the deck. To stack the deck. It's trying not to enter in negotiations.'

And in fact that's exactly what the Palestinians are doing - to us. I want peace. I want to negotiate peace. I say let's remove all preconditions, including those on Jerusalem. Let's get into the room and negotiate peace without preconditions. That's the simplest way to get to peace.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Sir, it seems like you and President Obama then are still at odds on this whole issue of whether there should be a settlement freeze right now. If that's the case how do you get these talks started again?

NETANYAHU: No, in fact … I'm the one who initiated -- that's unprecedented. A settlement freeze - in the territories. Again, in Jerusalem, we're talking about neighborhoods, not settlements and their urban areas right next to this office in the heart of Jerusalem.

But look, I did three things when I came in and I think people have to understand how much we've taken steps for peace. First thing is I said, and I think … as a (pronunciation unclear) leader, it wasn't easy for me to do. I said we're ready to have a solution of peace of two states for two people.

Then I removed hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints, which makes the West Bank economy boom. I mean … they've got coffee shops. They've got shopping malls. They've got restaurants. They've got e-businesses. You name it. It's great. But it hasn't been done before. We helped make it happen because of the change of policy.

Third, I actually froze new construction in the … settlements for a period of 10 months, something that hasn't been done before and which Secretary of State Clinton said was unprecedented. That's what we did for peace because we want peace.

And unfortunately, the Palestinians so far have not responded in kind because what they've done is named public square honoring -- public squares, in fact, honoring terrorists who've murdered hundreds of innocent Israelis, including innocent Americans.

And they're loading the deck with all sorts of demands and requests for preconditions that make the starting of negotiations impossible. I hope they'll change their mind. I hope they'll enter negotiations. And … I don't think it's that difficult to do once you remove all these preconditions we've have never been put before. I think let's go back to negotiations directly and without preconditions. Or indirectly. But without preconditions. That's the way to get to peace.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah. As … you know, sir, a lot of those neighborhoods in East Jerusalem were empty lands as recently as 1993 when Yitzhak Rabin met Yasser Arafat on … the White House lawn. They are next to Palestinian neighborhoods. Not contiguous to other settlements, which is one of the reasons why President Obama has … called for a freeze. It does seem to be your position right now is fairly clear on that. I would just say what would be your reaction then if the President decides, as he's been advised by some, to put a United States peace plan on the table?

NETANYAHU: Well, first of all, on these neighborhoods which are part and parcel of Jerusalem and has not displaced anyone and no Palestinian, Palestinians live in their … in Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Jews live in Jerusalem neighborhoods.