A Desperate Netanyahu Formally Rejects Any Palestinian Statehood Ever

Bibi says Israel must rule from the river to the sea, further eroding US support

On Thursday, January 18, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally declared his long-held but never publicly articulated policy of opposing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

“In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control of all territory west of Jordan. This clashes with the idea of (Palestinian) sovereignty. What can you do?” Netanyahu told a news conference in Tel Aviv.

This is a complete rejection of a Palestinian state and another rejection of U.S. policy goals. It is a major embarrassment for President Joe Biden who has long supported a two-state solution and said that the only way to restore peace after the Hamas October 7 attack is to proceed rapidly to talks to establish a Palestinian state.

Just the day before, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the World Economic Forum at Davos that Israel cannot achieve “genuine security” without a pathway to a Palestinian state. Netanyahu’s remarks seem like a slap in the faces of U.S. diplomats.

It also endangers Israel’s newly-formed diplomatic ties to Arab states, which are predicated on an eventual negotiated solution to the displacement and oppression of Palestinians in Israel and the territories it has occupied since 1967. It may make an diplomatic recognition by Saudi Arabia - already deeply unpopular among the Saudi public - impossible.

Democrats on Capitol Hill reacted quickly and angrily.

“Netanyahu’s saying the quiet part out loud — it’s dangerous and directly contradicts U.S. policy. Aid must be conditioned on working toward peace.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted. “The U.S. supports a two-state solution. It’s the only way to ensure security, dignity and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Sen. Chris Murphy warned that his remarks could seriously harm funding for Israel’s war on Gaza. “I think when Netanyahu says things like that, it does not help win votes from people who are skeptical abut the future of a Palestinian state,” he said.

Since the beginning of the war, Netanyahu has repeatedly rebuffed the Biden administration’s pleas to use greater restraint in its bombing of Gaza, to avoid provoking a broader regional war (by, for example, striking deep into Lebanon as it did this week) and to work towards a “day after” plan that included negotiations for a Palestinian state.

“What we’re seeing with Netanyahu is that he is willing to take our money but will always reject our advice,” said Vermont Senator Peter Welch.

Speaking earlier, Vermont’s other Senator, Bernie Sanders, was more direct. “There is a horrific humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The U.S. should not provide another nickel to the Netanyahu government unless there is a fundamental change in military policy and their response to the humanitarian crisis.” he told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

Netanyahu has always tried to undermine any effort to negotiate a two-state solution. He has starved the Palestinian Authority of resources, promoted massive settlements in the West Bank, and even encouraged Arab states to fund Hamas in Gaza before the October 7 attack as a way of splitting the Palestinians and preventing the formation of a unified Palestinian negotiating partner. But this public statement is his clearest rejection of the only feasible negotiated solution to peace for Israel. It may finally force the Biden administration to apply more pressure behind its so-far ineffective private entreats for Israel to end is destruction of Gaza.

Netanyahu’s more belligerent public stance may be the result of his eroding support at home. Polls show that only 15 percent of the Israeli public want him to remain in office after the war is over. The Jerusalem Post reports that a growing number of his own Likud party members “believe that his days at the Party’s helm are numbered.” By shifting even further to the right, he may be trying to convince the extremist members of his fragile coalition that he can be trusted to eradicate any hope of an independent Palestinian state.

It may also be the reason that he threatens to continue the war on Gaza for months or years, until “total victory.” As long as the war goes on, so may his government position.

As Dylan Williams, a former lobbyist for the pro-Israel, pro-peace group, J Street, and now the vice-president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy in Washington, wrote “U.S. assistance to the Palestinians is conditioned on the Palestinian government (and all of its ministers) recognizing the State of Israel’s right to exist. It’s time to apply the same standard to the Israeli government and the recognition of the right of the Palestinians to a state.”