Israeli Defense Minister: Israel opposes a Palestinian state.
The regime’s defense minister, in response to the submission of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed peace resolution to the United Nations, which the U.S. representative said includes steps toward establishing a Palestinian state, joined the ranks of far-right opponents and attacked the plan vehemently.
He wrote that Israel’s policy is unequivocal: no Palestinian state will be established.
Katz added that, moreover, the Israeli military will remain on the summit of Mount Hermon and in the security buffer zone in Syria. Gaza will be emptied of its tunnels to the last one, and Hamas will be disarmed either by the Israeli army or by an international force.
Katz’s remarks came after Mike Waltz, Washington’s representative to the UN, issued an official statement saying that the United States and its regional partners support a resolution that lays out a path to Palestinian autonomy and the establishment of a state. According to the U.S. statement, this is a “positive and sincere effort” aimed at enhancing stability and achieving a comprehensive political solution in the region.
Shortly after the announcement, leaders of the parties in the Israeli coalition government reacted strongly. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long refused to respond and urged him to “make it clear to the whole world that a Palestinian state will never be established.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security, also attacked the U.S. move fiercely, claiming that “there is no such thing as the Palestinian people” and that any such political initiative would be “a reward for terrorism.”
At the same time, other Israeli media outlets claimed that Netanyahu had agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, which has sparked anger among Netanyahu’s coalition parties.
Amid reports that the establishment of a Palestinian state is a condition for Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, they demanded that Netanyahu clarify whether Israel opposes that condition.