Even if the two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians is implemented, Israel will retain its military control over all Palestinian territories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, quoted by DPA and Agerpres.

“In any case, with or without a permanent settlement, Israel will retain full security control over all areas west of the Jordan River,” including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said in a video message.

The United States, Israel’s most important ally, has stepped up its calls for a two-state solution that would see Israel and a Palestinian state coexist peacefully, based on the borders of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

President Joe Biden’s administration is campaigning for a two-state solution as it sees a way to end both the current war in Gaza and the decades-long conflict in the Middle East, DPA said.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, has built his long political career largely on his outspoken opposition to the two-state solution, and on Monday he reiterated his ten-year stance.

He said he would introduce legislation in line with his cabinet’s decision to reject an “international dictate” aimed at imposing a Palestinian state, boasting of decades of thwarting any attempts to do so, The Times of Israel reported.

Netanyahu says the existence of a Palestinian state endangers Israel

In the quoted video message, Netanyahu said Israel had resisted international calls for months to end the war in Gaza against Hamas, but now faced new pressure, including “an attempt to impose on us a unilateral Palestinian state that will threaten the very existence of the state of Israel.” “.

“We categorically reject this,” the Israeli prime minister emphasized. After it was unanimously approved by his cabinet, where he noted “differing views on a permanent settlement,” Netanyahu said he was confident the law would have broad support in the Knesset (parliament), “showing the world that there is broad agreement in Israel against international efforts to impose a Palestinian state on us.”

Benjamin Netanyahu added that “everyone knows that I was the one who for decades blocked the creation of a Palestinian state, which would endanger our existence.”

His position, he said, only strengthened after the mass murders committed by Hamas commandos on October 7, 2023.

“No matter what happens, Israel will maintain full security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River,” including both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the Israeli prime minister insisted.

It is unlikely that the Gaza Strip will come under the control of an international coalition

The text of the prime minister’s proposal is identical to the document approved by the cabinet on Sunday, which says that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state “would be a large and unprecedented reward for terrorism and would prevent any future peace agreement”.

Israel is strongly rejecting international pressure to move forward on a Palestinian state following recent reports that the US and several Arab partners are preparing a detailed plan for a comprehensive peace deal that includes a “firm timetable” for the creation of a state. notes The Times of Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s new comments appear to all but rule out the possibility of putting the Gaza Strip under the control of an international coalition, a possibility his defense minister floated in the first weeks after the Hamas attack.

Israel withdrew its armed forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 at the suggestion of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.