According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has informed the US that, should the Gaza conflict end, he is against the creation of a Palestinian state.
At a press conference, a defiant Netanyahu pledged to continue the offensive in Gaza “until complete victory”—that is, the destruction of Hamas and the release of the Israeli hostages—while also acknowledging that it might take “many more months”.
With 85% of the population of the Gaza Strip displaced and nearly 25,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, Israel is under tremendous pressure to halt its offensive and hold substantive negotiations over a long-term solution to the conflict.
There have been calls for the long-dormant “two-state solution” to be revived, in which an Israeli state and a future Palestinian state would coexist. This has come from both Israel’s allies, such as the US, and many of its adversaries.
Many people believe that the current crisis has the potential to drive the warring parties back to negotiations, which is the only practical way to end the never-ending cycle of violence. However, it seems from Netanyahu’s remarks that the opposite is his intention.
He stated at the news conference on Thursday that Israel needs to maintain security control over all territory west of the Jordan River, including any future state that may be formed by the Palestinians.
“This is a necessary condition, and it conflicts with the idea of (Palestinian) sovereignty. What to do? I tell this truth to our American friends, and I also stopped the attempt to impose a reality on us that would harm Israel’s security,” he said.
