Netanyahu rejects US calls for Palestinian state after war

TEL AVIV – AFP

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed American calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, putting the US-Israeli divide on the matter on sharp display.

Netanyahu’s insistence that Israel must retain “security control over all the territory west of the Jordan River” comes as questions swirl over the fate of the Gaza Strip when the war is over.

“We will not settle for less than a complete victory (over Hamas),” he told a news conference on Thursday. “Complete victory requires the elimination of the terror leaders and the destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas. Complete victory requires the return of our hostages home. Complete victory requires that Gaza be demilitarized, under full security control of Israel, and Israeli control over everything that enters Gaza. These are also the basic conditions for the ‘day after’ (the war),” he said.

Netanyahu further said Israel must have security control over all the territory west of the Jordan (River). “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. A prime minister in Israel should be able to say no, even to our best friends – to say no when necessary, and to say yes if possible.”

He warned that “victory will take many months”.

Washington supports Israel’s campaign in Gaza, but despite otherwise close ties, the two allies publicly aired differences again this week over the way forward.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to renew his call for a “pathway to a Palestinian state”.

Washington believes that the creation and recognition of a viable Palestinian state is necessary to achieve security for Israel.

“We obviously see things differently,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said when asked about Netanyahu’s comments.

Responding to Netanyahu’s remarks, the official spokesperson for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, said that without an independent Palestinian state “there will be no security and stability in the region”.

“The entire region is on the verge of a volcanic eruption due to the aggressive policies pursued by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, according to the official Wafa news agency.

Abbas’s Palestinian Authority exercises limited rule in the occupied West Bank