The Mirage of Palestinian Independence in the Shadow of Israeli Policies.

Written by – Elijah J. Magnier:

In an important speech at the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Kampala, Uganda, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed “the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their state and declared that denying this right is fundamentally unacceptable.” His statement directly contradicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that “Israel must maintain security control over all territory west of the Jordan River.” This area includes historic Palestine, including the regions where a Western-backed independent Palestinian state is envisaged.

Netanyahu’s position emerged in response to US President Joe Biden’s claim to have spoken to the Israeli prime minister, who apparently “had no objection to the creation of a Palestinian state.” The revelation has profound implications in the context of Biden’s staunch support for Israel, especially as he faces a brutal presidential campaign against Donald Trump, whose popularity is gaining momentum partly due to the current US administration’s stance on the war in Gaza.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office broke the silence of Saturday’s holy holiday to deny President Biden’s remarks, stating that “a two-state solution remains unfeasible” under Netanyahu’s leadership. This denial underlines the profound contradiction between the US position and Netanyahu’s longstanding efforts as leader of the Likud party to dismantle the concept of a Palestinian state completely. Over the past thirty years, Netanyahu has presided over the construction of tens of thousands of illegal homes in new settlements, encroaching on Palestinian land deemed illegitimate by the international community, not just the West, and ignoring international objections. He has repeatedly and openly expressed his pride in preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state, in line with his party’s belief that “the Land of Israel, including Hebron and Samaria (Nablus), is indisputably Jewish territory.”