Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the idea of a Palestinian state should be eradicated, while the Palestinian Presidency responded that an independent Palestinian state was the only solution to achieve security.
The Israel Broadcasting Authority said Netanyahu’s remarks were made during a closed-door meeting of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security, where he was quoted as saying that “Israel must block the Palestinian aspirations for an independent state.”
Netanyahu added: “It is in Israel’s interest to have a Palestinian Authority and keep it running, and he is ready to help it financially,” noting that “we are preparing for a post-Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.”
In response to Netanyahu’s statements, Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeine said in a statement that “the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is the only solution to achieve security and stability, and that a Palestinian state exists and is recognized by more than 140 countries, and it only needs an end to the occupation” in order to realize its independence.
He believed that “Netanyahu’s statements show the world the true intentions of Israel, which reject international legitimacy and international law, and that there is no Israeli partner who would like to achieve peace on the basis of international legitimacy. The State of Palestine is an observer member of the United Nations. and in many international and international institutions, and has received international recognition for this.”
Abu Rudeineh called on the international community, especially the US administration, to “intervene and hold Israel accountable for its actions and words that are contrary to international legality, and to force it to comply with what international legality has approved in relation to the Palestinian people, embodying the creation of its independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem at 67 borders, so that stability and peace reign in the region.”
For its part, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged the US administration to take “Netanyahu’s anti-peace positions very seriously and take the necessary sanctions, pressure and measures to protect the possibility of realizing the principle of a two-state solution.” and compel the Israeli government to honor its obligations to Palestinian citizens as the occupying power.”
Source: “Sputnik”
