Netanyahu said during a tour in the Jordan Valley that the area is "is Israel's defense border."
"Missile smuggling is prevented here. Especially considering the unrest in the region, the army must remain spread out across the border," Netanyahu said. “If this was true in the past, it is currently 'seven times more true' now considering the upheaval in the Middle East.”
He added that there is no alternative to an army presence in the area to keep "terrorists" and rockets from coming into the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Last November, Israeli Army Radio said that Netanyahu has agreed to a US proposal whereby Israel would lease lands in the Jordan Valley from the Palestinians as part of peace agreement between the two sides.
The radio quoted Israeli sources as saying that Netanyahu agreed to the idea but demanded that the arrangement be for a longer period of time than the original US offer that Israel leases the border region with Jordan for seven years.
According to report, Netanyahu said in closed talks that "seven years is not enough - an arrangement like this needs to last for dozens of years."
The report also quoted a senior minister as saying that "anything less than a 99-year lease is not worth talking about."
The Palestinian Authority rejected the US offer saying the "land of Palestine is not for rent." It described the offer as "trial balloons."
Netanyahu's Office said last week that the PM was considering a plan to cooperate with the Palestinians on the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders, as part of an interim peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority that would be implemented immediately.
The proposal appears to be based on plans by the head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has proposed a long-term interim arrangement under which a Palestinian state would be established with temporary borders on 45 percent to 50 percent of the West Bank.
Mofaz has recommended the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders on 60 percent of the West Bank, along with an Israeli commitment that the borders would eventually be aligned with those that preceded the 1967 War.
The Palestinian Authority rejected Netanyahu's proposal.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, Secretary General of Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, said that the Palestinians only want the end of the Israeli occupation in the areas that were occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, and a fair solution to the issue of refugees.
"There can't be an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without achieving the last step of the final agreement that ends all forms of differences on the main issues," Abed Rabbo said.
He noted that the final-status issues include refugees, settlements, water, security and prisoners.
The US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stopped in September 2010 after Israel resumed building settlements in the West Bank.
