Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that he will not accept the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of any post-war scenario, rejecting the US calls for a two-state solution after the three-month-long conflict in Gaza. He said that a Palestinian state would pose a threat to Israel’s security and insisted that Israel must have full control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River.
Netanyahu, who leads a far-right government that opposes Palestinian statehood, made his remarks in a nationally televised news conference on Thursday. He said he had informed the US, Israel’s closest ally, of his position and resisted the pressure to agree to a reality that would endanger the state of Israel.
He said that Israel would not stop its offensive until it achieves a decisive victory over Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, and brings home all the remaining hostages held by the group. He dismissed the criticism from some Israeli experts and politicians that his goals were unrealistic and unattainable.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, after an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas that killed about 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 others hostage. Israel’s assault, one of the most deadly and destructive military campaigns in recent history, has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and displaced over 80 percent of the territory’s 2.3 million people.
The US has urged Israel to scale back its offensive and said that the creation of a Palestinian state should be part of the “day after” plan. A two-state solution envisions an independent and sovereign state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, within the borders that existed before the 1967 war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel would never have genuine security without a pathway toward Palestinian independence. He also said that the US would not stop working toward a two-state solution, despite Netanyahu’s rejection.
The two-state solution has been the internationally accepted framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, but it has been stalled by the lack of political will, mutual distrust, and continued violence and settlement expansion.