Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement on Sunday called on Arab states to withdraw the Arab Peace Initiative in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech.

"The misleading Netanyahu speech should motivate the Arab regimes to cancel their initiative and stop being subjected to compromise," said the less influential group in a press release.

"We can not accept occupation being present on any span of Palestinian land," the statement added.

At 1700 GMT, Netanyahu started to deliver a speech at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, in which he accepted a demilitarized Palestinian statehood only when the Palestinians recognize Israel as the national homeland of Jews.

Netanyahu also said Israel will not completely halt Jewish settlement in the West Bank and the Palestinian refugees can not return back to their homeland in Israel.

The Arab Peace Initiative was first declared in 2002 by Saudi Arabia during an Arab League summit in Beirut, which calls for making peace between Israel and the Arab countries if Israel ends the occupation of Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territories.

Source: Xinhua