Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state, a day before the United Nations Security Council votes on a US-drafted resolution that would allow for Palestinian independence.
Netanyahu has long rejected the idea of Palestinian statehood. But as the US pushes ahead with its Gaza ceasefire proposal, the Israeli leader is facing strong international pressure to show more flexibility.
The Security Council is due to vote on a US proposal for a mandate for a UN international stabilisation force in Gaza on Tuesday, despite opposition from Russia, China and some Arab states.
The US, under international pressure from countries that could send troops to a future peacekeeping force, has revised the draft resolution and strengthened language on the Palestinian right to self-determination. The latest version says US President Donald Trump’s plan could provide a “credible path” to Palestinian statehood. Russia, however, proposed its own resolution with even stronger expressions of support for a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have urged him to take a firm stand against the initiatives. Addressing his cabinet today, Netanyahu stressed that Israel’s opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state “has not changed one bit.”
He added that he has been blocking any progress towards Palestinian statehood for decades and that neither internal nor external pressures bother him.
“I don’t need anyone’s confirmations, tweets or lectures,” he said.
Netanyahu also recalled that Trump’s plan calls for the demilitarization of Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas.
“It will either happen the easy way or the hard way,” he said.
The Israeli prime minister also commented publicly for the first time on the rise in violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, saying that a “small minority” was behind the attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups say the attacks are widespread and accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the violence.
Violence in the West Bank has escalated in recent weeks. Palestinian health officials said on Monday that Israeli forces had killed a 19-year-old Palestinian, the seventh person killed there in the past two weeks.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that there were concerns that the events in the West Bank “could undermine” what the US is doing in Gaza.
A spokesman for the UN human rights commissioner, Tamim el-Khitan, said the UN had recorded more than 260 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in October, more than in any month since 2006.
