Rivlin: 'PM doesn't believe in 2-state motto'

               Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "does not believe in the adage 'two states for two peoples'," Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) said during a tour of the West Bank Thursday. Rivlin said Israel's wider conflict with the Arab world preceded the more specific issue of making peace with the Palestinians. According to Rivlin, who planted a tree in the settlement of Eli, "the prime minister needs to say only what he believes in and tell the Americans - as they asked - the truth. I think that when the prime minister speaks of an arrangement, he really wants to reach an arrangement. But I am not sure that the prime minister believes in two states for two peoples." Meeting residents of the settlements, Rivlin distanced himself from the phrase 'natural growth,' which Israel uses to explain construction in existing settlement blocs. "We have a right to build here. I think the term 'natural growth' is apologetic and does not embody a principled stance. We live in these places out of a faith in the justice of our cause and also because we see these areas as Israel's belt of security." Rivlin was accompanied by National Union MK Uri Ariel. Earlier in the day, Rivlin said in the Ariel Academic Center that "we are here to stay in Samaria and despite some discordant voices we are not considering any other possibility." (16,56)