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In an interview with NPR's Morning Edition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fresh from victory in parliamentary elections this week, seeks to clarify remarks he made on the campaign trail that appeared to write-off any possibility of a Palestinian state on his watch.

"What I said was that under the present circumstances, today, it is unachievable." Netanyahu tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep in an interview to be aired on Friday. "I said that the conditions have to change."

The conversation with NPR comes on the heels of a win for Netanyahu's Likud Party, which came out ahead in a closely fought but decisive poll on Tuesday, propelling the center-right leader to a fourth term as prime minister.

"I don't want a one-state solution. But I certainly don't want a zero-state solution, where Israel's very existence would be jeopardized," Netanyahu tells NPR.

In a separate interview on Morning Edition, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accuses Netanyahu of "exporting fear" to Israelis and of being disingenuous about a Palestinian state.

"In my opinion, this man was never a two-stater," Erekat tells Steve.

Erekat, who is also a member of the Palestinian parliament, also warned of possible violence if Israel continued did not change its stance on settlements in Palestinian territories.

Netanyahu, he said "is seeking to have the status quo of one state, two systems and this will lead straight into violence and bloodshed. And that's what we should avoid," he says.

"I am warning; I am not threatening," he says. "I don't want my son to be a suicide bomber. I don't want my son to be killed."

The interview with Netanyahu comes amid strained relations with the White House after the Israeli leader accepted an invitation to address Congress, where he aired his differences with the Obama administration's approach to negotiations to end Iran's nuclear program.

Netanyahu tells Steve that he wants to make it clear "that I am the prime minister of all Israeli citizens." But he insists that no movement is possible unless the Palestinian Authority is "ready to break the pact with Hamas."

Asked about the composition of his emerging post-election coalition, Netanyahu says he's "starting with the decision that the voters have made, which is very clearly to seek a coalition with the parties of what are called the National Camp."

Asked how long it might take, the Israeli prime minister says: "A few weeks, but you'll have to be patient with us. It's like Noah's Ark, 40 days and 40 nights."

Saeb Erekat

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Palestinian Authority