Screen shot of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu giving interview to Channel 2. Photo: Channel 2

Israeli Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he does not believe Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has any real intention of reaching a peace agreement with Israel.

“In the reality of the Middle East, any areas we will pull out of will be taken over by Iran,” Netanyahu  said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2. “The stronger we are, we will be able to secure our future and make peace with our neighbors. I’ll make peace if I am talking with someone who does not embrace Hamas and does not give credit to people who showered rockets on the State of Israel,” he added, in reference to Abbas’s reconciliation meeting with Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal in Cairo last week.

Abbas made headlines recently when he claimed that no Jews were expelled from Egypt under the rule of General Nasser, and rather, that Jews left Egypt “willingly” and “as a result of Zionist conspiracies.” He also told a group of Egyptian journalists that  “it’s better [Palestinian refugees] die in Syria than give up their right of return [to Israel].”

Since 2009 Abbas has refused to negotiate with Israel without preconditions.