Israel prime minister criticised for calling for two-state solution

Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid has been criticised by members of his own government and the right-wing opposition ahead of his call for an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution in his address at the United Nations General Assembly.

One of the most prominent voices opposing the plan was that of prime minister-designate Naftali Bennett, who was replaced by Mr Lapid as prime minister when the government lost its parliamentary majority earlier this year and was forced to call a new election on November 1st.

“There is no room for another state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, not only because of our right to the land. That course of action is neither feasible nor viable on the practical level either,” Mr Bennett said. “The Palestinians themselves are deeply conflicted and light years away from being able to govern.”

In his address, Mr Lapid explained that “separating from the Palestinians has to be part of the nation’s vision”.

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With that in mind, Israel “will not do anything that would endanger the security of Israel or the security of the citizens of Israel even by an inch, but separation from the Palestinians should be part of the political vision, part of the concept of hope out of strength,” he said.

The right-wing opposition Likud party also blasted Mr Lapid.

“After Lapid established the first Israeli-Arab government, now he wants to establish a Palestinian state ... and hand over territories from our homeland to our enemies. For years, (Likud leader Binyamin) Netanyahu managed to remove the Palestinian issue from the world agenda, and Lapid brought Abbas back to the forefront in less than a year.”

The outgoing government consists of a broad coalition of eight disparate parties from the right, left and centre along with the United Arab List.

Zahava Galon, the leader of Meretz, a left-wing party in the coalition, endorsed Mr Lapid’s call.

“Millions of Israelis and Palestinians are waiting for a diplomatic horizon that will put an end to the cycle of bloodshed. I call on the prime minister to go one step further and meet with Mahmoud Abbas at the general assembly.”

Palestinian officials welcomed the remarks but doubted anything will change.

“Lapid isn’t the first Israeli prime minister to say that in the UN,” said the governor of the West Bank city of Jenin Akram Rajoub. “It doesn’t matter what he says today. What matters is what he does on the ground. Let the UN and the world, and even the Israelis, look at what’s happening on the ground.”

Mr Lapid’s call follows weeks of tension with almost daily attacks by Palestinians against Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank and nightly raids by soldiers to arrest Palestinian fugitives. Earlier this week a Palestinian labourer killed an 84-year-old Israeli woman in a Tel Aviv suburb.

On Sunday, ahead of the start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, Israel will impose a closure on the West Bank and Gaza.