RAMALLAH Jan. 21 (JMCC) - Israel will need to maintain a presence in the West Bank after Palestinian statehood, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the press on Wednesday.

Netanyahu made the demand for the first time as he described how missile attacks from the Lebanese border in the north and rocket fire from the Gaza Strip had made Israel vulnerable.

We cannot afford to have that across from the center of our country, he told foreign reporters Wednesday in Jerusalem.

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