Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday with good wishes for the Eid al-Ahda holiday, even as he bemoaned his absence as a peace partner.
"The other side is also needed," Netanyahu said during a spontaneous speech he delivered at a special ceremony in the Knesset in Jerusalem to mark the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war.
During the prepared address that opened the ceremony Netanyahu mentioned briefly that Israel was working hard to come to an agreement with the Palestinians.
But he took the podium again at the end of the ceremony to respond to charges by Meretz party chairwoman Zahava Gal-On and Kadima party chairman Shaul Mofaz that he was to blame for the absence of a peace deal.
"I've been told that it is all up to you, because you promised peace," Netanyahu said.
"But we [Israel] also needs a partner. There was [former Israeli prime minister Menachem] Begin and [former Egyptian president Answar] Sadat. There was [former Jordanian King] Hussein and [former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak] Rabin," Netanyahu said.
"I am not under the illusion that this will be easy. I am determined to do my best to succeed. But this is not just dependent on the Israeli side, such like it was no only up the past five prime ministers who proceeded me since the start of the Oslo process. They didn't want this? They didn't seek it? The other side is also needed," he said.
Although the two leaders traditionally exchange holiday greetings over the telephone, Netanyahu and Abbas have not met face to face since 2010.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been meeting regularly since the end of July as part of a nine-month negotiation process toward a final status agreement. Since entering office in March 2009, Netanyahu has repeatedly called for meeting, but Abbas has refused. It was reported in the last week, that the Palestinian leader was now willing to meet with Netanyahu, but there has been no formal confirmation of such a meeting.
On Monday during his speech that opened the Knesset winter session, Netanyahu said that to conclude any final status agreement, Israel's security needs must be taken into consideration and that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
In the Knesset on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that such an agreement could only properly prosper without external regional threats from Iran and its proxies, the Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Hamas.
He took issue with the idea that solving the Israeli Palestinian conflict would bring peace to the region.
"You can not say, if only I and [Abbas] Abu Mazen, with whom I spoke today, had come to an agreement," Netanyahu said.
Iran and its proxies would destroy any arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Israel's existing peace agreements with its neighbors.
The reality in the Middle East has changed since the Yom Kippur war, particularly with the establishment of an Islamic Republic in Iran, that has infiltrated every part of the Middle East, Netanyahu said.
The Iranian regime essentially controls Syrian and Lebanon and half of the Palestinian people through its proxies Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, who are in charges in Gaza.
"They are not interested in a compromise or an agreement. They have the power to take over territory from which we withdraw — if we do not protect them — with the intention get rid of us, yes, just like that, to chase us away from here, that is their declared objective. They also act overtly on this," he said.
When Israel left Gaza and Lebanon, Iranian proxies seized control, he said.
"They are a dominant force and they are not interested in peace. You can not ignore this," Netanyahu said.
It is important to ensure that any agreement has the proper ingredients to succeed, Netanyahu said. One of these ingredients is to neutralize the radical forces in the region, so that peace will have the best opportunity to flourish, he said.
This peace has to take into account the real forces around Israel such as Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, he said.
"No one understands this better than our Arab neighbors," Netanyahu said.
"They want us to make peace with Abbas and the Palestinians, but they are not under any illusion that ending the conflict would bring peace to the Middle east. Until these threats are dealt with, there certainly can not be peace," he said.
"Who among us does not want peace, but we want a real and not temporary peace," Netanyahu said.
"I'm looking for a peace that would last, it might not be warm or rosy, it might even be cold, but it should hold," Netanyahu said.
"But one thing I want to promise you. We will not miss a real opportunity with a real partner," he said.
He added, "I will not miss this opportunity, I am trying to create it, I pray, especially on this day, that I will succeed."