by Staff Reporter
June 17, 2013 (TSR) – Israeli regime’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, a far-rightwing Zionist, on Monday says that the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state has reached a dead end and that the Two-State Solution is not possible.
“The idea that a Palestinian state will be founded within … Israel has reached a dead end,” Bennett said.
Bennett, who heads the hardline nationalist Jewish Home Party, said the most important thing Israel should do is to build more settler units.
The Israeli minister has consistently voiced opposition to the two-state solution backed by key Israeli ally Washington and the rest of the international community.
Following Bennett’s remarks, Chief Palestinian Authority Negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of officially declaring the death of the two-state solution.
“Several high-ranking Israeli officials have made clear statements regarding their position to actively work against the internationally endorsed two-state solution on the 1967 borders,” Erakat said.
Erekat says the comments by high-ranking Israeli officials against the two-state solution are not isolated events, but a reaffirmation of political platforms and radical beliefs.
A report released last month revealed that the Israeli regime confiscated 1,977 acres of the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank for its settlement activity during 2012.
The settlements, which cover an area roughly equal to 1,035 soccer fields and twice as big as New York’s Central Park, were approved by “military order,” the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on May 27.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and United States, a staunch ally of Israel, has criticized Israel’s settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, calling the move a “violation of international law.”
Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said on Friday that the UN chief is deeply concerned about Israel moving forward with a plan to build more than 1,000 new illegal units in two West Bank settlements.
