Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Arabic television network Al-Arabiya that he is ready to put “everything on the table” if Palestinians agree to renew peace talks.

In a rare interview with an Arab news organization broadcast Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu also says he is willing to negotiate anywhere and with anyone who accepts Israel's right to exist.

But, he says “we need to get to the table,” a reference to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to negotiate while Israel continues building on land the Palestinians want for a state.

Mr. Abbas has said he plans to seek full U.N. membership for an independent Palestine in September, a move Israel opposes.

In the interview, Mr. Netanyahu says he recognizes a need to make “difficult compromises” for peace, but did not elaborate. He also defends Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying it is needed to prevent ships from delivering rockets to Hamas militants who run the territory.

Hamas and other Gaza militants have fired thousands of rockets at Israel in recent years, occasionally causing casualties and often triggering retaliatory Israeli strikes on militant targets.

The Israeli prime minister also addressed questions about unrest in Syria, saying Israel is not intervening but is concerned about the situation and believes Syria's young people “deserve a better future.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been trying to crush a four-month-old nationwide protest movement that demands democratic reforms and an end to his 11-year autocratic rule.

Mr. Netanyahu says he wants to maintain decades of quiet along Israel's border with Syria and to formalize that situation in a peace accord.

Syria has said any peace talks must lead to a full Israeli pullout from the Golan Heights, a plateau Israel captured from Damascus in the 1967 Mideast war. Mr. Netanyahu opposes such a withdrawal.