Israel warns that the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would lead to “unilateral measures”
Gideon Saar, Israel's Foreign Minister. Photo: Dursun Aydemir / AFP / Profimedia
The unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would lead Israel to take “unilateral measures,” warned the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday, as a reaction to the ongoing discussions related to this issue.
“Any unilateral (…) attempt (…) would only harm the future prospects of a bilateral process and pushes us to take unilateral measures,” said Saar after a meeting with his German counterpart, Johann Wadeph, in Jerusalem, reports France Presse and Agerpres.
On the other hand, Germany supports the principle of a two -state solution, with a bilateral recognition of the Israeli and Palestinian states.
“The prospect of a two -state solution is the best chance to live in peace, safety and dignity for both the Israelis and Palestinians, and this should not be obstructed by the advancement of the construction of illegal colonies nor by a premature recognition of a Palestinian state,” Wadeph stressed.
Almost 150 countries recognize the Palestinian state. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain took this step, followed by Slovenia in June.
The French President Emmanuel Macron is to co-pre-president, together with Saudi Arabia, an international conference at the United Nations to relaunch the solution with two states, Palestinian and Israeli.
He expressed the hope that this could “trigger a series of recognition decisions” of a Palestinian state, especially from France, but also to recognize Israel, by several countries in the Arab-Muslim world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several ministers in his government-one of the most right-wing in the history of the country-have reiterated in recent months that they are opposed to a Palestinian state. For them, this would mean, as Saar repeated on Sunday, “reward Hamas terrorism.”
The war in Gaza was triggered by the attack committed on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist Movement, which led to the death of 1,218 people by the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP balance based on official data.
The Israeli reprisal campaign caused at least 52,829 dead in the Gaza Strip, largely civilians, according to the data of the Ministry of Hamas, considered by the UN.
Of the 251 kidnapped people that day, 58 are still detained in Gaza, of whom 34 were declared dead by the Israeli army. Hamas also retains the remains of an Israeli soldier killed during a previous war in Gaza in 2014.
