Israel’s War minister: Palestinians will have ‘an entity,’ not a state

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Israeli War Minister Benny Gantz told the Munich Security Conference on Sunday that Palestinians will have “an entity,” not a state.

In the future, Gantz said, Palestinians will have an entity, but not a full-fledged state, according to The Jerusalem Post.

“Eventually we will find ourselves in a two-entity solution, in which we respect Palestinian sovereignty and governance, but we will be respected for our security needs,” he said.

Souad Mekhennet, the moderator and a senior security writer at The Washington Post, pushed him on his choice of words, “entities” and not “states,” given that the normative international discourse on a resolution to the so-called ‘conflict’ is often two states.

“Did you say a two-state solution is possible?” the moderator asked.

Gantz responded to the moderator, explaining that he had chosen to speak of two entities and not two states.

To speak of a “two-state solution takes us to a former framework. It’s a phrase that gives the illusion of [a return to]1967 with the border lines, etc.; things that cannot happen.”

“This is why I said two-entity solution. We would verify with one another how we can ensure Palestinian rights on one hand while safeguarding Israel’s security needs on the other,” Gantz said.

Only once the issue of Palestinian sovereignty and Israeli security is resolved can one move forward… for a final resolution of the conflict, Gantz said.

“We cannot ignore the existence of the Palestinians and the Palestinians cannot ignore the existence of us Israelis in the area and we must find ways of living with one another,” Gantz said.

“Both sides should take historic decisions,” he emphasized.

“I hope that one day we can create a new reality… to take the realities on the ground [into account],” he said.

Gantz recalled that he had twice met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas because “We must maintain a strategic connection. We must maintain security. I am sure we must promote the [Palestinian] economy. Slowly but surely we will separate from one another and create a better reference for future discussion on what a permanent agreement would look like,” he said.

While Gantz backs a two-state solution, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party and the fellow-right wing party New Hope are opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Bennett reiterated his opposition to a Palestinian state in an interview last year, saying “I think it would be a terrible mistake.”

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