Israel braces for tough peace talks with Palestinians Netanyahu said his guiding principles would be to maintain a Jewish majority in Israel and avoid a Palestinian state becoming a 'terror state'. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters Israel's prime minister says he expects recently announced peace talks with the Palestinians to be tough, and that any agreement reached would have to be ratified in a national Israeli referendum. Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Sunday at his weekly cabinet meeting, his first on-camera remarks since the US secretary of state, John Kerry, announced the resumption of peace talks - ending a five-year deadlock. Netanyahu said his main guiding principles would be to maintain a Jewish majority in Israel and to avoid a future Palestinian state becoming an Iranian-backed "terror state." Final status negotiations aim to reach a deal on the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security arrangements. The Palestinians say talks will be based on Israel's pre-1967 borders.