BREAKING: Netanyahu says this is the real obstacle to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal

BERLIN, GERMANY - MARCH 16: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) speak to the media following talks at the Chancellery on March 16, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

"The idea that the presence of Jews in their ancestral homeland, which has been our homeland for the last 3,000 years, that Jews should not live there... I think that's the obstacle to peace," said Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview last Saturday with Sky News.

Christians, Muslims and Jews are paying attention to the developments surrounding the Israeli-Arab conflict and the possibility of peace negotiations between Netanyahu's and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abass' cabinets.

Jewish settlements have been blamed for obstructing the peace process. But Mr. Netanyahu denies those sentiments.

Abbas disagrees with him:

"Israel attempts to mislead and deceive the public, as if the settlements are not established on Palestinian land belonging to the Palestinian people," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Mr. Abbas told Reuters.

"If this government seeks a lasting peace, it must recognize international resolutions that are based on the two-state solution."

Netanyahu's government also obviously takes exception to the "occupied" label when it is applied to the West Bank, which is called Judea and Samaria in the Holy Bible.

Similar to the ancient Israelites conquering parts of the Promised Land of Canaan from its inhabitants, modern Israel conquered the West Bank from Jordan during the 1967 Six Days War - including the flashpoint for dispute that is East Jerusalem.

The territory is targeted for the State of Palestine's capital, as part of a peace negotiations agenda item referred to as the "two-state solution" with the 1967 borders proposed by many Arabs nations, plus China, America and others.