The Knesset. Photo: Wiki Commons.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday to work toward reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians, guidelines for the new governing coalition said.

“The government will advance the diplomatic process and strive for a peace agreement with the Palestinians and any of its neighbors,” said the second bullet point on a list of coalition guidelines, released on the Knesset website in Hebrew.

The document said any peace deal would rely on upholding Israel’s “security, historical and national interests.”

“If an agreement like this is achieved, it will be brought to the government and Knesset for approval, and if there is a need as required by law, to national referendum,” it said.

Shortly before elections, Netanyahu said he did not foresee the creation of a Palestinian state during his tenure.

“Anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state, anyone who is going to evacuate territories today, is simply giving a base for attacks to the radical Islam against Israel,” he told Israeli news portal NRG.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday called on Israel and the Palestinians to show a “genuine commitment to a two-state solution.”

The guidelines themselves make no mention of endorsing such a solution, despite the pledge to pursue a peaceful agreement with the Palestinians.

Israel and the Palestinians engaged in nearly nine months of peace negotiations, which ended last year, initiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, but those negotiations collapsed without bearing results.