Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said he believes there is little chance a Palestinian state could exist as a completely autonomous, sovereign state side by side with Israel.
Pointing to historical precedent, Netanyahu argued a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would leave a security vacuum in the region, allowing radical groups to assert military power. His justification for a long-term Israeli military presence comes as Gazan clans or local militias opposed to Hamas’s rule have been rounded up and executed by the terrorist group after Israel withdrew some forces to make way for phase one of President Donald Trump’s peace deal.
In the wake of the turmoil, the prime minister said Palestinians should “have all the powers in a peaceful day to govern themselves.” But Israel must retain a military presence in Gaza to keep “jihadists” at bay, he told CBS during an interview in Tel Aviv.
“They can’t have the powers to threaten our survival. That sovereign power of security must remain with Israel,” Netanyahu said.
“Otherwise, the jihadists take over,” he added. “Iran takes over immediately. And that’s what happened every time we vacated territory — the most extreme fanatics came in.”
Speaking to the future of Gaza, the prime minister expressed his desire that the transitional governance structure called for under Trump’s peace deal would work, and that it would “not [be] made of people who are committed to our destruction.” He also expressed hope Hamas would disarm itself in compliance with the terms of Trump’s deal, which the terrorist group and Israel agreed to last week.
Full implementation of the deal remains on shaky ground, particularly after Israel said Wednesday that Hamas had returned the wrong body of one of the hostages the terrorist group had agreed to send home. And tensions will likely only rise as the timeline for Israel to receive the last of the deceased hostages is indefinite. Hamas has said it is searching through rubble all over Gaza to find the bodies.
While the future appears uncertain, Netanyahu this week urged Middle Eastern countries to pursue peace in the region by embracing Trump’s historic Abraham Accords. The agreement normalizes relations among Israel and the Arab nations. Four countries have signed onto the accords.
“We have an opportunity to broaden that peace,” Netanyahu said, adding that signing more countries to the Abraham Accords would be “the greatest gift we can bring the people of Israel, the people of the region and the people of the world.”
But he suggested lingering hopes that Palestinians in Gaza would enact a sovereign state could only threaten that peace, and any chance at long-term stability in the region.
“A sovereign state has, for example, military power; it can make covenants … The Palestinians should have all the powers in a peaceful day to govern themselves, but they can’t have the powers to threaten our survival. That sovereign power of security must remain with Israel,” he said.
Israel must remain “in control of the military power to prevent our destruction,” he added.
Trump has remained largely silent on whether he foresees a two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side, as a viable option for Gaza.
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Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, suggested in June that he saw no path to such a solution.
“I’m asking whether there truly needs to be a separate state,” he said. “Muslim countries collectively have 644 times the landmass that Israel has. So I’m not saying there shouldn’t be [an independent Palestinian state], but the real questions are: Where would it be? How would it be governed? And what kind of culture would underpin it?”
