Recognition of Palestinian state is ‘reward to terrorists’ – Netanyahu

The Israeli leader has said he will not be pressured into accepting a separate nation for Palestinians

Israel will continue to oppose international recognition of a Palestinian state, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, warning that it could prevent the settlement of the conflict in Gaza.

Netanyahu was responding to a report on Wednesday by the Washington Post, which cited diplomatic sources as saying that the US and several Arab nations were discussing a plan for long-term peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The proposal reportedly involves a ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Hamas and “a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, that could be announced as early as the next several weeks,” the paper said.

The Israeli leader took to X (formerly Twitter) early on Friday to clarify his stance on what he described as “talk of imposing a Palestinian state on Israel.”

“Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” he wrote in Hebrew.

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After the incursion by Hamas into Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and some 240 taken hostage, international backing for Palestinian statehood “would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement,” Netanyahu insisted.

”Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians,” he stressed.

A peace deal in Gaza can only be achieved “through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” the prime minister added.

In its report, the Post said that there are “fears that a looming Israeli attack on Rafah will throw the Gaza crisis into overdrive and bury both the hostage deal and long-term peace efforts.” The city at the enclave’s southern border with Egypt has become the last refuge for over a million Palestinians displaced by IDF attacks.

Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel would “fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action in Rafah as well, after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones.”

Relations between the US and Israel have reached a “boiling point” over the latter government’s insistence on continuing its campaign in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week. American officials told the outlet that Washington had communicated to the Israelis that it would not support an assault on Rafah “under any circumstances.”

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According to Gaza’s health ministry, 28,663 people have been killed and 68,395 others wounded in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in the Palestinian enclave since October 7.