Netanyahu once again rejects two-state solution
Israel’s PM Netanyahu has said the status quo in the West Bank would remain unaltered for the foreseeable future and insisted that the Israeli public is opposed to a two-state solution that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.
In a news conference alongside German Chancellor Merz, Netanyahu said 99 out of 120 members of the Knesset voted against a possible Palestinian state.
“The purpose of a Palestinian state is to destroy the Jewish state,” he said.
Merz and other European leaders have long said they remain committed to a negotiated two-state solution and called for negotiations.
Netanyahu says ‘political annexation’ of West Bank remains on the table
Asked whether he would comply with Germany’s calls not to annex the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu told reporters Israel was already in charge of security in the Palestinian territory.
“Israel today controls security between the Jordan River and the sea,” he told a news conference alongside Germany’s Chancellor.
“We are the power in charge with overall security and that in the foreseeable future will stay. That has nothing to do with the question of political annexation, which remains a subject of discussion.”
The Israeli government says what it doesn’t want, not what it does
Ofer Bronchtein, peace activist and special adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, tells Al Jazeera he has been talking to the Israeli government for a year about France’s diplomatic push for a two-state solution.
He said, in response, the Israeli government has been clear that it does not want a Palestinian state, but has not offered another clear solution.
Despite this, Bronchtein said the French initiative today has succeeded in ensuring that four of the five members of the UN Security Council recognise the Palestinian state.
He added that, among the G7, he soon believes there will be six states recognising the Palestinian state.
Bronchtein said the government represents a minority view from within Israel on the two-state solution, citing a recent poll that showed 65 percent of Israelis would accept a Palestinian state if the Arab countries recognise Israel.
“If there were a Palestinian state … October 7 would not have happened because the name of the game is to have a sovereign country responsible for its people,” he said.
