Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the United States that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state once the conflict in Gaza comes to an end.
In a news conference, a defiant Netanyahu vowed to press on with the offensive in Gaza „until complete victory„, adding that it could take „many more months”.
With almost 25,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and 85% of the Strip’s population displaced, Israel is under intense international pressure to rein in its offensive.
Israel’s allies, including the US – and many of its foes – have urged a revival of the long-dormant „two-state solution”, in which a future Palestinian state would sit side-by-side with an Israeli one.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu said Israel must have security control over all land west of the River Jordan, which would include the territory of any future Palestinian state.
„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.
Netanyahu has spent much of his political career opposing Palestinian statehood, boasting just last month that he was proud to have prevented its establishment, so his latest remarks come as no surprise, points out the BBC.
But the very public rebuttal of Washington’s diplomatic push, and determination to stay the current military course, show a shift in attitude in Israel’s western allies.
Since the 7 October attacks – the worst in Israel’s history, when Hamas gunmen killed about 1,300 Israelis and took some 240 hostage – the US has supported its right to defend itself.
But as the death toll in Gaza has grown, and the scenes of horror there have abounded, Western governments have called for Israeli restraint.
The White House has repeatedly tried to influence Israel’s military policy: urging more precision-guided weapons rather than the blanket air strikes; discouraging a ground offensive; and calling for a two-state solution, with a role for the Palestinian Authority and representative governance in post-conflict Gaza.
Israel’s total rejection of Palestinian agency has hardened frustration in some American circles over the Biden administration’s apparent blanket support for Israel, with strident calls to put conditions on US aid to its Middle East ally.
Recent polls show most Israelis want Netanyahu to prioritize bringing the remaining hostages home over the (potentially impossible) aim of destroying Hamas.
In the midst of war, Wizz resumes Bucharest – Tel Aviv flights
