Arabi Says Netanyahu Remarks 'Electioneering' as Iran Says 'All Israeli Politicians the Same'

The Arab League chief dismissed Wednesday as electioneering Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to rule out a Palestinian state if reelected, saying there would be global pressure for a peace deal.

Netanyahu, whose Likud party won 30 seats in the 120-member parliament in Tuesday's vote, had pledged to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank and block creation of a Palestinian state if reelected.

The president will now decide which party leader to tap to form the next government, and Netanyahu looks best placed to do so.

Arab League chief Nabi Arabi put the premier's statements down to "electioneering."

Netanyahu's statements would "not be the policies of the future Israeli government," said the secretary general of the 22-nation bloc in an interview with Agence France-Presse, adding: "we will have to wait and see."

"I believe personally that he made that statement about... no two states to gain the votes of the extremists, particularly those Russian immigrants who went to Israel in the last 10, 15 years," Arabi said.

Netanyahu, when asked by an Israeli interviewer if he would not allow the creation of a Palestinian state, had responded: "Indeed."

But Arabi said he expected stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which broke down last year amid mutual recriminations, to resume after the next Israeli government is formed.

"I think there will be enough pressure on any Israeli government that the situation as it is cannot continue; Israel is going to be  a pariah," he said.

On Wednesday, Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzahi Hanegbi said that, if the Palestinian leadership "changed course," Likud would be willing to negotiate.

Meanwhile, Iran dismissed Netanyahu's election victory, saying it would have no effect on Palestinians or the Islamic world as all Israeli political parties are "the same to us."

"For us, none of the parties or political groups of the Zionist regime are any different," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham.

"They all have an aggressive nature and all are the same to us and partners in atrocities against Palestinians, in plotting against Muslim nations and neglecting their rights."

Netanyahu swept to a stunning triumph, securing a third straight term despite a tenure of deepening tensions with the Palestinians and shaky relations with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Earlier this month, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Israel posed the "greatest danger" in the region, after Netanyahu made a speech to the U.S. Congress arguing against a nuclear deal with Tehran.

Netanyahu said the agreement Obama wanted with Tehran "is so bad... it paves Iran's path to the bomb" and "would spark a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet."

Iran denies seeking atomic weapons and insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy production only.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- are in negotiations to end the crisis over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities.

The two sides agreed in November to reach a political agreement by March 31 and a final deal by the end of June.