Netanyahu Digs Heels In Opposing Palestinian Statehood Despite Its Popularity

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu He vowed on Sunday to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state, a day before the UN Security Council plans to vote on a draft resolution prepared by the United States. Gaza This leaves the door open to Palestinian independence.

Netanyahu has long claimed that establishing a Palestinian state would reward Hamas and eventually lead to a larger Hamas-run state on Israel’s borders. But the United States faces heavy international pressure to show flexibility as it tries to advance its Gaza ceasefire proposal.

The Security Council is expected to vote on the US proposal to create a UN mandate. international stabilization force In Gaza, despite the opposition of Russia, China and some Arab countries.

Hamas and Palestinian groups warned against the US proposal on Sunday, saying it was an attempt to impose an international mandate on Gaza that was biased against Israel and deprived Palestinians of the right to manage their own affairs. In a statement, the groups said the force should not include Israel and should be under direct UN control.

The statement also rejected any reference to the US proposal to demilitarize Gaza. On Sunday, Netanyahu said the proposal calls for the demilitarization of Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas, telling his cabinet: “This will either be the easy way or the hard way.”

The United States, under pressure from countries expected to send troops to the force, revised the decision with stronger language regarding the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. It is now said that President Donald Trump’s plan could create a “credible path” to a Palestinian state. A rival Russian proposal uses even harsher language in favor of a Palestinian state.

The establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the conflict in the long term.

Netanyahu’s hard-line governing partners have urged him to take a hard line on calls for Palestinian independence. Israel’s opposition to a Palestinian state “has not changed one bit” and is not threatened by internal or external pressures, Netanyahu said on Sunday.

“I don’t need anyone’s approval, tweets or lectures,” he said.

This pressure increased even more during the war in Gaza. After September, UK, Australia and Canada officially recognized Netanyahu, who owns the Palestinian state, condemned countries that offered a “reward” to Hamas.

The Israeli leader also made his first public comment about an increase. Attacks by Jewish settlers inside Israeli-occupied West BankHe said violence was the work of a small minority. Palestinians and human rights groups said violence was widespread and accused the government of turning a blind eye.

A 19-year-old Palestinian man was the seventh person killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank in the past two weeks, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday. The increase in violence is accompanied by an increase in settler attacks.

The Israeli army said it carried out an operation in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, in the early hours of Sunday and that the man threw explosives at soldiers, who responded.

The army later said, without providing details, that its forces killed someone “who was trying to harm them” in the Far’a district of the West Bank. There was no immediate comment from the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank said that in addition to Sunday’s clashes, six teenagers aged 15 to 17 were shot and killed by Israeli fire in four separate attacks in the past two weeks.

On Sunday, Netanyahu portrayed the settler violence as the work of a few extremists. But Palestinians and human rights groups say the violence is being carried out by settlers with impunity from Israel’s far-right government. Settler leaders and their allies hold senior positions in Netanyahu’s government, including the national police force and Cabinet ministers who oversee settlement policies in the West Bank.

WE Secretary of State Marco Rubio Last week it was said there were concerns that events in the West Bank “could undermine what we are doing in Gaza”.

In October, the UN recorded more than 260 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, more than in any month since 2006, said Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokeswoman for the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Israeli army said on Sunday that its soldiers killed someone who crossed into the territory they control in northern Gaza and that he “posed an immediate threat to them.”

Families in the crowded Muwasi tent camp in Khan Younis, south of Gaza, tried to find their way through the flooded streets. first heavy rain of winter It started on Friday. Water was dripping from the torn tents onto the belongings. Children splashed around or tried to ride a bike, barefoot or in sandals.

“Our bathroom is made of fabric. Everything is made of fabric and worn out by the sun, so it rains on us. It’s an indescribable pain,” said displaced Palestinian Abdullah Abu Quta.