Israel’s parliament passed a bill this Thursday, formally rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian statehood.
Israel’s parliament put to a vote this Thursday a draft bill on totally rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state. The bill was passed overwhelmingly in the Knesset, with only nine members of the parliament opposing the idea out of fear of repercussions for Israel.
The 68 other members of the Knesset said yes to the bill, co-sponsored by Netanyahu’s coalition along with right-wing parties in the opposition. Even Benny Gantz, a man who is considered by many leaders in the West as a more moderate figure than Netanyahu, voted in favor of the bill, along with his party.
It is expected that the move sparks fury among the Democrats in Washington just days before Israeli prime minister Benjain Netanyahu’s trip to the US to address Congress.
“The Knesset [parliament] of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan,” the resolution stated, adding that “the establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region.”
The statement also asserted that “promoting the idea of a Palestinian state at this time will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters to see this as a victory, thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East.”
The bill is a violation of international law!
Rebuking the bill, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, said that the “resolution represents a rejection of peace with Palestinians and an official declaration of the death of the Oslo agreement.”
The Oslo Accords were signed between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in 1993. The agreement called for a viable and sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with an Israeli state.
But the agreement has been largely ignored by Israeli governments, which have continued to allow the building of illegal settlements on Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank. This time, however, Tel Aviv clearly violated the Oslo Accords it once signed.
No Palestinian state for no one!
Early this July, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to establish a new settlement in the occupied West Bank “each time a country recognizes Palestine as a state.”
“For every country that unilaterally recognizes a Palestinian state, we will establish a new town [illegal settlement] and thus bring about the demise of the delusional idea of establishing a Palestinian state that will endanger the existence of the State of Israel,” Smotrich said in a press conference on July 2.
Over In the past two months, Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and Armenia have recognized Palestine as a state, a move that has irritated Israel.
Smotrich also promised to take the Palestinian state off the agenda by creating facts on the ground and applying what he called “Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.”
