It would be a terrible mistake to create a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a series of media interviews he gave on Tuesday night just after his return from his historic meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
"I oppose a Palestinian state. I think it would be a terrible mistake that would take the terrible situation in Gaza and recreate it in Judea and Samaria," Bennett told KAN news.
His comments referred to Hamas's ouster of the Palestinian Authority from Gaza in a bloody coup in 2007 and its forcible take over of the coastal enclave as well as the consequent rocket attacks against southern Israel.
He inferred that if Hamas or another radical Palestinian group would similarly take over the West Bank, it would turn the lives of Israelis living in Kfar Saba and his home city of Ra'anana into a living hell.
"I will not do that," he said.
Bennett said that he understands that in any event, Palestinian statehood is not feasible at this time and thus the question of whether to support it was not relevant.
It is, however, important to provide economic opportunities for the Palestinians that would improve their lives, he said.
"My outlook is a very business-like one," he said. "If we create more business, strengthen the economy and improve living conditions for everyone in Judea and Samaria, that would be better."
Bennett, who has met with both Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah, clarified that he has no intention to speak with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
"I do not see the logic in meeting or talking to a person [Abbas] who is suing IDF soldiers and their commanders at the International Criminal Court at The Hague," the prime minister said.
While Abbas was "accusing IDF commanders and soldiers of war crimes," he is providing monthly monetary stipends to terrorists, he said.