Israel’s parliament voted on Wednesday to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration opposing the ‘unilateral’ creation of Palestinian state, following growing international calls for the revival of efforts to reach a two state solution to the decades-long conflict.
Netanyahu’s Likud party said in a statement that 99 of 120 lawmakers voted to support the declaration passed earlier this week by the cabinet.
The Israeli position also says that any permanent accord with the Palestinians would have to be reached through direct negotiations between the sides, and not by international dictates.
Even in case of a two-state solution between Israeli and the Palestinians, Israel will retain military control over all the Palestinian Territories, Netanyahu said on Monday.
“In any case, with or without a permanent settlement, Israel will maintain full security control over all areas west of the Jordan River,” including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said in a video message.
The US, Israel’s most important ally, have been increasingly calling for a two-state solution that foresees the peaceful co-existence of Israel and a Palestinian state, based on the borders of the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Washington is also pushing for a two-state solution as a means to end both the current Gaza war and the decades-old Middle East conflict.
Netanyahu, on the other hand, a politician on the Israeli right, has built his long political career to a large extent on his declared opposition to the two-state solution and he reiterated this decades-old stance on Monday.
His government on Sunday rejected a permanent peace settlement with the Palestinians imposed by “international diktats,” with his Cabinet unanimously approving a declaration to this effect.
Netanyahu was responding to media reports that the United States and other allies could recognize a Palestinian state without Israel’s consent.
The United States has confirmed any future Palestinian state will be demilitarized.
Israeli Prime Minister, in past statements when seemingly accepting a Palestinian state eventually, has always insisted any future state be demilitarized.
It would appear President Joe Biden has agreed with this in a bid to get Netanyahu on board, now that he has flipped on having a state at all. On Sunday night the Israeli prime minister put forward a declaration which was agreed by Cabinet and put to the Knesset on Monday.
The declaration was that there be no future Palestinian state. The motion however did not pass in the Knesset as several members felt it was not hawkish enough, and it should rule out the possibility of a Palestinian state under any conditions, ever.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew meantime on Sunday night confirmed any Palestinian state agreed to by the United States would be demilitarized. He also indicated the possible motivation of the Biden administration in advocating a Palestinian state now is to entice Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel, which would be an historic achievement at a time in which Biden is trying to win re-election.
As is customary with administration officials, including President Biden and Secretary Blinken, there is no mention in public utterances of an actual state, but rather a vision for, a horizon of, or steps to a pathway, of a Palestinian state. Now with the adoption of the Netanyahu ‘demilitarization’ doctrine, some critics would say the U.S. is advocating a token state, somewhat similar to an Indian reservation.
“Underscoring everything is that Israel must be secure. This means that Israel must be responsible for defending itself, and there cannot be a militarized Palestinian state,” Lew told the Conference of Presidents at the Museum of Torrance Jerusalem on Sunday night, confirming the administration’s policy.
“At the same time, if the normalization conversation with Saudi Arabia is to be achieved, there must be an over the horizon process that includes a vision for a demilitarized Palestinian state,” he said.
Asked if the U.S. was considering what other countries have done, or are contemplating doing, in unilaterally declaring Palestine as a state, Lew replied, “We have never said that was our policy.”
Earlier this month The New York Times reported the administration ‘is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state.’
In a column penned by Thomas Friedman, who is reportedly close to the administration, he wrote, “The plan would involve some form of U.S. recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.”
Again, the terminology does not allow for a Palestinian state but rather a ‘road map’ which would outline a number of hurdles the Palestinians would need to overcome before a (demilitarized) state would come into being.
The United States sees the Palestinian Authority ruling Gaza, but only if it is revamped.
“That diplomatic path must include steps by the Palestinian Authority to reform, revamp and revitalize itself,” Lew told the conference of presidents.
Israel on Sunday formalised its opposition to what it called the “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood, and said any such agreement must be reached through direct negotiations.
Netanyahu brought the “declaratory decision” to a vote in cabinet, which unanimously approved the measure, according to a statement.
Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly meeting that the move comes after “recent talk in the international community about an attempt to unilaterally impose on Israel a Palestinian state.”
The war in Gaza that has raged since Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage through Israeli communities is the latest in a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that has rumbled on for seven decades and destabilised the Middle East.
Efforts to achieve a two-state solution – a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel – have been stalled since 2014.
U.S. President Joe Biden has been trying to clinch an even broader deal in the Middle East, that would include Saudi Arabia and other Arab states normalizing ties with Israel, as well as the creation of a Palestinian state.
The formal Israeli statement, according to Netanyahu’s office, reflects the fact that: “Israel rejects outright international dictates regarding a permanent accord with the Palestinians. An accord, should it be reached, will only come through direct negotiations between the sides, without preconditions.”
“Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7th massacre will grant a huge, unprecedented reward to terrorism and prevent any future peace accord,” it said.
