RAMALLAH, May 24, 2011 (WAFA) - Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Tuesday that what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said at the US Congress is not going to lead to peace.

“What Netanyahu had said does not lead to peace,” he said, accusing the Israeli premier of “putting more obstacles in the way of the peace process.”

Netanyahu, addressing a joint session of the Senate and House, repeated his plan for a solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, insisting on a demilitarized Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank without East Jerusalem. He also said Israeli soldiers will remain in the Jordan Valley and that refugees will be settled outside the borders of Israel.

Netanyahu also invited President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table with him but only after accepting Israel as a Jewish state and after tearing up his reconciliation agreement with Hamas.

“Peace for us means a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” said Abu Rudeineh. “We will not accept any Israeli presence inside the Palestinian state, particularly on the River Jordan.”