US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (December 12, 2023) targeted Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition government for not supporting the two-state solution and said the country was losing global support due to “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.
“He’s (Benjamin Netanyahu) a good friend, but I think he has to change and — with this government,” Biden said while addressing an event.
“This government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move,” he said.
Referring to National Security Minister Ben Gvir, Biden said: “You know, Ben-Gvir is not what you would call someone who — this is the most conservative government in Israel’s history — the most conservative.”
He said: “Ben-Gvir and company and the new folks, they — they don’t want anything remotely approaching a two-state solution.”
“They not only want to have re- — retribution, which they should for what the Palestinian — Hamas did, but against all Palestinians. They don’t want a two-state solution,” he said.
Israel began targeting Gaza after Hamas members attacked the country on October 7.
Biden said: “Folks, the Palestinians have been not governed well at all. A lot has happened that’s very negative.”
Meanwhile, in a statement later on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country had received the “full backing” of the US for its ground war as well as its goal of destroying Hamas and recovering hostages, reported BBC.
He added that Washington had blocked “international pressure to stop the war”.
“Yes, there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’ and I hope that we will reach [an] agreement here as well,” he was quoted as saying by BBC.
What is a two-state solution?
The two-state solution is a vision seen by leaders which will have two territorially district states- one each for Israelis and Palestinians.
The concept predates the creation of Israel in 1948, after the end of the British mandate for Palestine. But outbreaks of violence and war blocked progress over the decades, reported The Washington Post.
In the US-brokered Oslo accords signed in 1993, Israel accepted the Palestine Liberation Organization as the Palestinians’ representation, while the PLO recognised Israel’s right to a peaceful existence, the newspaper reported.
Both the sides had then agreed that the Palestinian Authority would take governing responsibilities in the West Bank and Gaza.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton unsuccessfully attempted to reach a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David. Months later, clashes broke out after an Israeli politician’s visit to a Jerusalem site venerated by both Jews and Muslims. A Palestinian intifada, or uprising, gripped the region for years, the newspaper reported.
