Israeli Security Minister: Netanyahu opposes Palestinian state

Israel’s Public Security Minister says that Netanyahu and his entire security cabinet oppose the creation of a state for the Palestinian Authority.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intentions of creating a state for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Judea and Samaria, at least according to Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“I think all members of the security cabinet, and foremost the prime minister, oppose a Palestinian state,” said Erdan to Israel Army Radio.

“No one thinks in the next few years that a Palestinian state is something that, God forbid, might or should happen,” Erdan claimed in the interview. “(Netanyahu) has to weigh things according to what he feels in the meeting and the positions he encounters there.”

Erdan’s remarks follow a reportedly stormy meeting between Netanyahu and many of his Cabinet ministers who demanded that the prime minister officially renounce the idea 0f establishing a PA state during his meeting this week with President Donald Trump.

During the summer of 2009, Netanyahu had endorsed the idea of a two-state solution between Israel and the PA, under massive pressure to do so from Trump’s predecessor, Obama.

Israeli Minister of Education Naftali Bennett has since argued that there already is a two-state solution in place, pointing to Hamas-controlled Gaza, and that creating a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria would actually be creating a third state. For example, Bennet stated in January, “There is already a Palestine. We founded a Palestine in Gaza, and they screwed it up. … We don’t need another Palestinian state that would create havoc in Israel.”

By: World Israel News Staff