During his speech at the UN Mr Abbas castigated "Jewish settlement expansion"

Israel's Netanyahu asks Palestinian president to address parliament

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to address Israel's parliament.

Mr Netanyahu said that in exchange he would gladly accept any invitation to speak to the Palestinian parliament.

He made the comments at the UN General Assembly, calling on Mr Abbas to work for peace, instead of "stoking hatred".

Mr Abbas earlier called on the UN to declare 2017 as the year in which "Israel's occupation" came to an end.

"In June 2017 half a century of this abhorrent Israeli occupation will have passed." Mr Abbas said.

He urged the UN to "enhance Palestinian legal and political status" as it pushed for "full membership in international organisations".

Palestine is not a full UN member state, though it has observer status.

Mr Netanyahu spoke shortly after Mr Abbas at the UN.

"Wouldn't it be better if, instead of speaking past each other, we were speaking to each other we were speaking to one another," he said.

"President Abbas, instead of railing against Israel at the United Nations in New York I invite you to speak to the Israeli people at the Knesset in Jerusalem and I will gladly come to speak to the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah."

"I am ready to negotiate all final status, but one thing I will never negotiate is the right to a one and only Jewish state," he added, pointing out that the recent turmoil in the Middle East could lead to better relations between Israel's neighbours.

The Palestinians have turned down Mr Netanyahu's previous bids to hold meetings, arguing that such get-togethers will not make any progress because of the prime minister's hard-line stance on core issues.

They accuse Mr Netanyahu of rejecting a settlement freeze, rejecting the 1967 borders as the basis for talks, rejecting any division of Jerusalem and pledging not to uproot settlements in the West Bank.

The two leaders disagreed over the causes of their decades-old conflict which recently has seen a flare-up in violence, with over 200 Palestinians - mostly attackers, Israel says - and 35 Israelis killed since last October.

While Mr Abbas castigated "Jewish settlement expansion", Mr Netanyahu argued that the conflict had never been about the settlements or about establishing a Palestinian state.

"It's always been about the existence of a Jewish state, a Jewish state in any boundary," he said.