Bennett threatens to quit government if Palestinian state established

“As long as the Bayit HaYehudi is in the government, there will be no Palestinian state. That would be a disaster for Israel.”

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 03:03
NAFTALI BENNETT (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
NAFTALI BENNETT
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Bayit Yehudi Party head Naftali Bennett threatened on Wednesday that he would leave the government if a Palestinian state is created.
He issued the threat on Twitter moments after US President Donald Trump announced for the first time that he liked the idea of a two-state solution.
“As long as the Bayit Yehudi is in the government, there will be no Palestinian state. That would be a disaster for Israel.”
He added, however, that Trump “is a true friend of Israel.”
The NGO Peace Now lauded Trump’s words as belated acknowledgment that the only resolution to the conflict is two states.
“We hope that President Trump’s remarks today align him with the only realistic solution to the conflict, and put an end to the rumors and the evasion of negotiations.”
“Even Trump understands that two states is in Israel's [best] interest,” Peace Now said in a statement.
“The time has come for the right-wing settlers, who see Trump as the Messiah to internalize the understanding that there is no other solution and to cease their annexation plans [for the West Bank].”
When Trump first met as president with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington in February 2017 he said, “I am looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like.”
But on Wednesday, when he met Netanyahu for the fifth time, he clearly stated that he now likes a two-state resolution to the conflict.
His words upset right-wing politicians who had believed that Trump’s support of Israel, his position on terrorism and his failure to harshly criticize settlement construction meant that he did not back two states.
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) said Trump “appears to be someone who understands some basic things that his predecessors did not understand about the Israeli-Arab context in the Middle East. It would therefore be very strange if he repeated the mistakes of his predecessors and would try to promote a solution based on the establishment of a hostile terrorist entity that would continue to strive to destroy the State of Israel.”
Smotrich called on the Netanyahu to present alternative out-of-the-box ideas to the US that do not involve dividing the Land of Israel or “fostering national illusions” among Arabs.
MK Michael Oren (Kulanu), a former ambassador to the United States, said it was important for Israel to stand behind Trump’s two-state declaration.
Trump “prefers a two-state solution and Israel must respect his preference. This is the friendliest administration we’ve ever known – that stands with us against Iran, Hamas and the UN. We must say ‘yes’ to this president as often as possible. Let the Palestinians say ‘no.’”