Jerusalem, Jan 18 (EFE) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had told the United States that he opposed the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a post-war scenario in Gaza.
“In the future, the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea,” the Israeli premier declared at a news conference, turning the Palestinian freedom slogan on its head.
“This truth I tell to our American friends, and I put the brakes on the attempt to coerce us to a reality that would endanger the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said, adding that the majority of the Israeli population opposes an eventual Palestinian state, which the Joe Biden administration supports as part of the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The conservative prime minister, who heads a far-right government, argued that in any possible agreement with the Palestinians, Israel “must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River,” referring to the West Bank, which Israel has occupied under international law since 1967.
“Every area that we evacuate we receive terrible terror against us. It happened in South Lebanon, in Gaza, and also in Judea and Samaria (the biblical names for the West Bank),” the prime minister asserted.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reiterated his country’s position in favor of the two-state solution since the war began on Oct. 7, and both Washington and the European Union have proposed as a post-war plan where the Palestinian National Authority regains control of Gaza, from which it was expelled in 2007 after Hamas seized power.
“The prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends,” Netanyahu said in his speech.
He insisted that the Gaza offensive would continue, and said that agreeing to a cease-fire without eliminating Hamas would only harm Israel.
“Ending the war before the goals are achieved would broadcast a message of weakness, encouraging our enemies to believe that they defeat us. And then the next slaughter would be only a matter of time,” he said, amid growing skepticism in Israel that it can achieve its stated goal of eradicating Hamas.
In light of this, Netanyahu reiterated that the military route is the only one that can be effective in rescuing the hundred or so living hostages still in Gaza, emphasizing that “victory will take many long months, but we are determined to achieve it.”
In recent days, statements from Saudi Arabia have emerged in which officials of this Gulf monarchy have said that relations with Israel will only be normalized if there is a clear path to the creation of a Palestinian state. EFE
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