RABAT, January 19. /TASS/. The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wants to push the entire Middle Eastern region into the abyss by rejecting the creation of the Palestinian state, said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesperson for the Palestinian president.
"Statements of the Israeli Prime Minister rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state confirm that this government is determined to push the entire region into the abyss," the WAFA news agency quoted him as saying.
"Without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of 1967, there will be no security and stability in the region," Abu Rudeineh added.
On January 18, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel will continue its military operation unless it achieves "a decisive victory over Hamas." He rejected the idea of Palestinian statehood, adding that he had conveyed this stance to the US side.
Dangerous situation
"The entire region is on the verge of a volcanic eruption due to the aggressive policies pursued by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights," the presidential spokesman continued.
In his words, condemnation and denunciation of Israel’s actions are no longer sufficient.
"If there is an international will to restore stability to the region and the world, there must be recognition of the independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital," Abu Rudeineh said.
"The United States bears responsibility for the deterioration of security and stability in the region due to its bias and blind support for the Israeli occupation," he added.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.