JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the international demands for a permanent settlement with Palestinians, opposing unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state.
In a post on the social media platform, X, Netanyahu wrote that Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
"Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions
"Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," he said in a post on X on Friday, noting that such recognition in the wake of the Oct 7 attack would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement.
According to a Washington Post report, the United States (US) and several Arab countries are finalising a long-term peace plan between Israel and Palestinians.
The plan includes a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, that could be announced as early as the next several weeks.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming all of Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital in a move never recognised by the international community.
The Palestinians, for their part, hope to establish an independent state of their own in the Gaza Strip and West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Israeli attack since Oct 7 has killed over 28,600 Palestinians and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85 per cent of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations (UN).
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. - BERNAMA