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Israeli ministers blast US-backed proposal for Palestinian state as ‘reward for terror’

Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting with six Arab ministers aimed at rebuilding the Gaza Strip and establishing a Palestinian State. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli ministers rejected a plan negotiated by the US and several Arab states for a ceasefire leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. They said this would be tantamount to rewarding Palestinian terror.

The US is pushing a plan that would begin with a 6-week pause in fighting accompanied by a withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.

The proposed plan includes dismantling settlements in Judea and Samara and establishing a Palestinian State in the combined areas of Judea and Samaria and Gaza with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

The US views Saudi normalization as an incentive for Israel accepting the permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of forces. According to The Wall Street Journal this will be “hard for Israel to refuse.”

However, Prime Minister Netanyahu firmly rejected the proposal which involved several non-starters for Israel.

“Everybody who talks about a two-state solution — well, I ask, what do you mean by that?” Netanyahu said Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week.” “Should the Palestinians have an army? … Should they continue to educate their children for terrorism and annihilation? Of course, I say, of course not.”

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Last week. Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting with six Arab ministers aimed at rebuilding the Gaza Strip and establishing a Palestinian State.

The result of the meeting was a plan that has been circulating between the countries and is likely to be unveiled soon.

“Here in Israel, we are still in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre,” said Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Avi Hyman.

“Now is not the time to be speaking about gifts to the Palestinian people, at a time when the Palestinian Authority themselves have yet to even condemn the October 7 massacre,” he said.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “We will never agree, under any circumstances, to this plan that basically says the Palestinians deserve a prize for the terrible massacre they carried out against us: a Palestinian state with a capital in Jerusalem.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was also opposed to plan and called it a “delusional” proposal to “establish a terror state alongside Israel.

The US, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others who back the plan have condemned the IDF’s military in Rafah where half of the residents of Gaza are currently located and say it could threaten the peace process.

However, the IDF have said taking Rafah is necessary for the IDF to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas.