“Absolutely absurd” idea
Foreign Minister Katz: Two-state solution is not coming
January 31, 2024, 8:41 a.m
Even though the war in the Gaza Strip is still raging, ideas about a post-war order in the Middle East are already being discussed. We hear more and more often about a two-state solution. However, Israel’s Foreign Minister Katz clearly rejects the idea. But he leaves it open who will rule in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has rejected international calls for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as “absolutely absurd.” “It is absolutely absurd that, after everything that has happened, today Israel is being told that a two-state solution is the right thing,” said Katz in an interview with the “Bild” newspaper, the “Welt TV” channel and “Politico.” .
Given the fact that Palestinians have killed Jews, Palestinians cannot be given the task of being responsible for the safety of Jews in the future, Katz said. In Israel, even those who supported the idea of a two-state solution before the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th have now changed their minds.
The minister described Hamas as “the new ‘Nazis’”. The Islamist Palestinian organization must be “eliminated.” At the same time, Katz clearly rejected calls from his own right-wing religious government for Israeli repopulation of the Gaza Strip. “That’s not going to happen,” Katz said. The Israeli government’s policy in this regard is “clear, even if individual ministers say otherwise.”
Israel will neither govern nor decide on the Gaza Strip. However, Israel will be responsible for security in the coastal area for several years “until we are sure that we will no longer be killed by the residents of Gaza.”
Palestinians divided over two-state solution
According to Israeli information, in their major attack on Israel on October 7th, fighters from Hamas, which the USA and the EU classify as a terrorist organization, killed around 1,140 people and kidnapped around 250 others as hostages in the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip. According to recent figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 26,750 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
The two-state solution envisages the establishment of a Palestinian state that exists peacefully alongside Israel within secure, recognized borders. Germany and the USA recently reiterated their calls for a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects an independent Palestinian state. There are different attitudes on the Palestinian side: While the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas supports a two-state solution, the Islamist Hamas rejects this model. Their stated goal is to destroy Israel.