Merkel calls Netanyahu, stresses need for two-state solution

German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his reelection and stresses the need to work toward a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Merkel’s office says the German leader in a phone conversation stressed the continued relevance of a two-state solution, which she said should be the goal of international efforts.

Merkel also expressed her willingness to work closely and trustingly with the incoming Israeli government.

During the final stretch of his election campaign, Netanyahu pledged for the first time to annex parts of the West Bank in a desperate bid to rally his right-wing base. Netanyahu has reneged on election eve promises before, but should he follow through on this one, it would mark a dramatic development and potentially wipe out the already diminishing hope for Palestinian statehood.

— AP