The UK “remains wedded” to a two-state solution, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Sunday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea.
Mr. Shapps said Mr. Netanyahu’s comments were “disappointing.” He backed the U.S. view, saying there is no other solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It comes after Mr. Netanyahu doubled down on Saturday on insisting Israel must have full security control over all land west of River Jordan, including Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.
The Hamas terrorist group wants to control the same area with the destruction of Israel, which it calls a “Zionist entity.”
He previously said it’s because land Israel previously gave up had been used by terrorists.
Speaking to Sky News’s “Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips” programme, Mr. Shapps said, “I think it’s disappointing to hear Benjamin Netanyahu saying he doesn’t believe in a two-state solution. In fairness, he’s said that all of his political career, as far as I can tell.”
“I don’t think we get to a solution unless we have a two-state solution,” the defence secretary said.
He said the UK “certainly remains wedded to that,” adding, “so we do disagree on that particular issue.”
But Mr. Shapps also stressed the UK’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s deadly Oct.7 attacks.
The Defence Secretary also told the BBC’s “Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg” programme, “Palestinians deserve a sovereign state. Israel deserves to have the full ability to defend itself, its own security.
“Now, you’ll get a lot of different views within the Israeli government, of course, it is a rainbow coalition,” he said.
“So we very much distinguish between the views of individuals and our overall support for Israel as a country.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan went further, calling Mr. Netanyahu the “roadblock” to peace at a conference held by socialist think tank the Fabian Society in London.
According to footage circulated on social media and shared by Israel’s Digital Diplomacy Director David Saranga, senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal recently said Hamas doesn’t accept a two-state solution, and it’s “unacceptable” to acknowledge and recognise the “Zionist entity.”
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which controls the West Bank, supports the two-state solution and blames Jewish settlers for escalating the conflict, although critics don’t trust either its ability or its willingness to execute such a solution.
“They want a one-state solution. They want to eliminate Israel and they don’t want Israel to exist,” she said.
Since Oct. 7, there have been over 25,000 deaths in Gaza, according to the tally of the Hamas-controlled Gazan health ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Over 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, meanwhile, the Hamas-led terror group has also continued firing rockets at Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said they have destroyed about 80% of the rockets that entered Israel from Gaza and were threatening populated areas.
The IDF’s Iron Dome air defense system and local bomb shelters have kept the number of civilian casualties from rocket fire low.
