Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech yesterday outlining the conditions Israel would accept for there to be a separate Palestinian state. You can see the entire speech courtesy of the BBC via YouTube by clicking here, or read a transcript by clicking here.

In a nutshell, Netanyahu said Israel would accept a so-called two-state solution only if Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people with Jerusalem as Israel’s unified capital, and if the proposed Palestinian state were demilitarized. Of course, these terms were swiftly rejected by the Palestinians. The New York Times reports:

“Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about negotiations, but left us with nothing to negotiate as he systematically took nearly every permanent status issue off the table,” Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, said in a statement. “Nor did he accept a Palestinian state. Instead, he announced a series of conditions and qualifications that render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible.”

Palestinian negotiators have long refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, contending that it would prejudge the refugees’ demand for a right of return and would be detrimental to the status of Israel’s Arab minority.

Or maybe the reason they refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is because the Palestinian National Covenant calls for the complete elimination of Zionism. I believe this is what we would call an “impasse.”