Leading Israeli ministers reject the idea of a post-war Palestinian state

Leading ministers in the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea of Palestinian statehood on Thursday, in response to a Washington Post article claiming that the US, Israel’s principal partner, was pushing forward with plans to create a state for the Palestinian people.

“We will in no way agree to this plan, which says Palestinians deserve a prize for the terrible massacre they carried out against us: a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, stated.

“As demonstrated on October 7, a Palestinian state poses an existential threat to the State of Israel,” he declared. He also said he would like the security cabinet, which is scheduled to meet later on Thursday, to adopt a resolute stance opposing Palestinian independence.

According to a Washington Post article published on Thursday, the US is collaborating on a post-war plan for the region that would include a concrete timeline for the creation of a Palestinian state with a number of Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and the United States, with which Israel has long sought to forge diplomatic ties.

Any political endeavor that did not start with a Palestinian state as a full member of the UN, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was “doomed to failure”.

In their own statements, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Education Minister Yoav Kisch, and National Unity Party member and primary rival of Netanyahu, legislator Matan Kahana, all echoed Smotrich.

According to Chikli, a representative for Netanyahu’s Likud party, “this is a catastrophe, to reward the Palestinians after Oct. 7 by establishing a state,” to Army Radio.

On October 7, Hamas launched an onslaught on cities in southern Israel, resulting in 1,200 confirmed deaths and 253 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. This marked the start of the most recent Gaza conflict.

According to Palestinian health authorities, in the more than 130 days since, Israel has killed over 28,600 Palestinians in a continuous air, land, and sea offensive that has destroyed much of Gaza and forced the majority of its 2.3 million inhabitants to flee.

Only a small portion of the millions of Palestinians who live under various forms of Israeli authority are citizens. The Palestinian Authority, which seeks to establish a state that includes Gaza and East Jerusalem, has long demanded an end to Israel’s occupation and settlement growth in the West Bank, one of the areas Israel won in the 1967 Middle East conflict.

The majority of the international community and Palestinians view the settlements as unlawful. Israel contests this, pointing to political, biblical, and historical ties to East Jerusalem and the West Bank.