Addressing the Knesset at a special session initiated by the Kadima party members, Netanyahu once again reiterated his government’s interest to engage in peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. He welcomed the Arab League’s decision to support the U.S. proposal for indirect talks for a four month period subject when the situation will be reviewed.

“It seems that the conditions are ripening for the renewal of negotiations between us and the Palestinians, but in the Middle East you need two to tango,, but it could be that we need three to tango and we might need to leapfrog at first, but Israel was never the obstacle,” he said.
 

Netanyahu staunchly defended the decision to include Jewish sites in Hebron and Bethlehem on the national heritage list, despite international outcry and condemnation by the United States, the United Nations and Arab countries, as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“The Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb has been part of our heritage for 4,000 years. We must allow the younger generation to connect to that heritage,” he said. Just as maintenance work had been carried out on the Muslim side of the Cave of the Patriarchs, the same must be done on the Jewish side, Netanyahu said.

“We have created a plan, and a budget and this is something that must cross party lines,” he said.
 

The prime minister also outlined his vision concerning relations with Israel’s neighbors, citing a national transport initiative that will connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, a move he said which will deepen peace ties between Israel and Jordan.
 

Referring to the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Netanyahu said that while Israel had communicated its willingness to free prisoners who were likely to commit murder again, and had conveyed this in its latest proposal to Hamas, Israel had still not received an official response, despite media reports stating otherwise.
 

Opposition leader Tzip Livni, who spoke after Netanyahu, slammed the prime minister for failing to make substantial progress in peace negotiations and domestic affairs during the first year in office.

She also criticized the prime minister for allowing the stalemate in talks with the Palestinian Authority to continue.

“Just because you are in the prime minister’s chair doesn’t mean you are a leader,” she said. Livni continued telling the prime minister “today there are no negotiations and I hope they will start soon. There is no economic policy, and the two year budget..the last time it was proposed it was because of an economic crisis, and this time? Since you took over the helm Israel has become an ostracized nation,” she declared.
 

Livni also expressed anger over the failure of the prime minister to comment on Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s attack on the police, who he accused of leaking details of the current investigation.
 
“Who is supposed to defend the law enforcement agencies and the police? You are…where is the State of Israel going under  Netanyahu’s rule?” she asked.