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JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli newspaper is reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered the country's opposition leader a unity government late last year that would promote a regional peace initiative — before backing out.
Haaretz reports Sunday that Netanyahu sent a document to Isaac Herzog detailing a willingness to make compromises for the creation of a Palestinian state and to rein in West Bank Jewish settlement construction.
The offer reportedly came months after Netanyahu took part in a secret summit in Jordan that then-Secretary of State John Kerry organized to try and launch a drive for an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.
According to the report, plans were already underway for a dramatic press conference announcing the new initiative brokered by Egypt and Jordan, but that Netanyahu eventually backtracked for domestic political considerations.
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