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"Israel categorically rejects international dictates regarding a
permanent settlement with the Palestinians," said Netanyahu, in
a statement published following a call with U.S. President Joe
Biden. "Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of
a Palestinian state."
Netanyahu said statehood would be a "huge reward" in the wake of
the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which triggered the
latest war in Gaza. He said such an arrangement can only be
reached in direct negotiations between the two sides, though no
talks have been held since 2014.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the United States
was working with some Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan,
the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia - with which
Israel has long sought to establish diplomatic ties - on a post
war plan for the region that would include a firm timeline for
the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Top Israeli ministers strongly rejected such a development on
Thursday, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a
West Bank settlement, saying a Palestinian state would pose "an
existential threat" to Israel.
The two-state solution, which would create a state for the
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza alongside
Israel, has been a core Western policy in the region.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Friday Netanyahu was
invoking negotiations only to have the process fail again. "The
Palestinian state is not a gift or a favour from Netanyahu, but
a right imposed by international law and legitimate
international resolutions," it said in a statement.
Among the obstacles impeding Palestinian statehood are expanding
Israeli settlements in territories Israel occupied in the 1967
Middle East war, which most countries consider violate
international law and which sever Palestinian communities from
each other.
In its Gaza offensive, Israel has killed more than 28,700
Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, laid
much of the strip to waste and displaced most of its 2.3 million
population.
Israel says its goal is to destroy Hamas, whose fighters led the
attack on southern Israeli towns in which Israeli authorities
say 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage.
(Reporting by Henriette Chacar; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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