Netanyahu hopes U.S. will reject U.N. resolution on Palestinian statehood

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he hoped the United States would continue to reject any move towards a U.N. Security Council resolution backing Palestinian statehood. "A Security Council Resolution to pressure Israel would further harden Palestinian positions and thereby could actually kill the chances of peace for many, many years. And that is why I hope the United States will maintain its long-standing position to reject such a U.N. resolution," he told a meeting of the powerful pro-Israel AIPAC lobbying group in Washington. Speaking via satellite from Israel, Netanyahu also said he was ready to begin talks "immediately, without preconditions" for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but insisted that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not back the idea. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; editing by Chizu Nomiyama)