Benjamin Netanyahu ‘proud’ that he stymied two-state solution

In the wake of Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, Mr Netanyahu has been accused of deliberately propping up the terrorist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, and undermining its political rival Fatah, which seeks a peaceful two-state solution with Israel.

“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” the Israeli Prime Minister reportedly told members of his political party back in 2019.

“This is part of our strategy: to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

In fresh comments, as reported by The Times of Israel, Mr Netanyahu has claimed vindication for that approach.

“You and your journalist friends have been blaming me for almost 30 years for putting the brakes on the Oslo Accords, and preventing the Palestinian state. That’s true,” Mr Netanyahu told a reporter.

“I’m proud that I prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state, because today everybody understands what that Palestine state could have been.

“Now that we’ve seen the little Palestinian state in Gaza, everyone understands what would have happened if we had capitulated to international pressures and enabled a state like that in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), surrounding Jerusalem and on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.”

A negotiated two-state solution, which would, theoretically, see Israel and a sovereign Palestinian state coexisting side-by-side, is the stated goal of most of the international community, and has been for decades.

“As hard as it is, we must keep pursuing peace,” US President Joe Biden said during a visit to Tel Aviv in October.

“We must keep pursuing a path so that Israel and the Palestinian people can both live safely, in security, in dignity, and in peace.

“For me, that means a two-state solution.”

However the obstacles to such a solution, already significant, have only grown further since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel in October, during which it murdered more than a thousand people and abducted hundreds.

Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by Australia, the US, the UK and other Western nations, has the stated aim of destroying Israel completely.

Meanwhile multiple ministers in Mr Netanyahu’s government have expressed support for removing the Palestinian population to surrounding Arab states – a move international human rights agencies say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

A humanitarian aid convoy crossed into war-torn Gaza through the Israeli Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday, the first since Israel approved the move, an Egyptian Red Crescent official said.

A total of “79 trucks began entering today,” the official, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said on condition of anonymity.

Israel on Friday approved the “temporary” delivery of much needed aid to Gaza via its Kerem Shalom crossing.

The Gaza Strip is facing dire humanitarian conditions after more than two months of war, during which aid has only been allowed to trickle in through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Kerem Shalom, which sits on Gaza’s border with Israel, recently began inspecting shipments of aid bound for the territory, but the trucks still had to travel to Rafah afterwards to enter.

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Sunday that “starting today, UN aid trucks will undergo security checks and be transferred directly to Gaza via Kerem Shalom.”

Kerem Shalom was used for 60 per cent of goods entering the besieged Palestinian territory before October 7.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive, including more aerial bombardment and a ground invasion, has killed around 18,800 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas. Much of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

The UN estimates 1.9 million people have been displaced, while aid groups fear the territory will soon be overwhelmed by starvation and disease.

– with AFP