The Israeli president joined a number of other Israeli officials in opposing a two-state solution following the war in Gaza.
In an interview with the Associated Press news agency on Thursday (14/12), Isaac Herzog said that now is not the time to talk about establishing an independent state while Israel’s suffering due to the Hamas attack on October 7 is still being felt.
“What I want to encourage is that we don’t just say a two-state solution. Why? Because there’s an emotional chapter here that needs to be addressed. My nation is in mourning. “My nation is traumatized,” Herzog said. “To return to the idea of dividing land, negotiating peace or talking with Palestinians, and so on, we must first face the emotional trauma we experienced as well as the need and demand for complete security for the entire society,” he said.
Herzog spoke a day before meeting with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
President Joe Biden’s administration has said that after the war, efforts to restart negotiations to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority must be renewed. Herzog, whose position is largely ceremonial, is a former leader of Israel’s Labor Party, which advocates a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
But after the Hamas attack on October 7 that sparked Israel’s war on Gaza, Israeli leaders opposed efforts to restart peace talks after the war and sidelined the role of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
About 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attack and another 240 were taken hostage.
Israel immediately declared war, carrying out weeks of airstrikes and ground attacks that killed more than 18,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-controlled territory.
The United States asked Israel to estimate when the war would end. Herzog estimates Israel’s campaign in hard-hit northern Gaza will be completed within weeks. But he refused to say when the war would end.
Israel has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, saying it will continue to attack until it dismantles Hamas’ military and political capabilities. He added that the end of the campaign in the south would only come when Hamas was “completely eradicated.” (ka/lt)