NO PALESTINIAN STATE: Bennett demands full Israeli security control to the Jordan River
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has reaffirmed his long-standing rejection of a two-state solution, arguing that Israel must hold uninterrupted security control across the entire territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. In his telling, Palestinians would continue to administer their own civil affairs within Areas A and B, while Area C, which makes up roughly 60 percent of the West Bank and includes all Israeli settlements, would ultimately be absorbed into Israel outright. Bennett described pursuing a traditional two-state framework as a path toward disaster for Israeli security, framing his proposal instead as the only realistic way to balance Palestinian self-governance with Israel's defense needs. The comments echo the "Stability Plan" Bennett has promoted for more than a decade, under which security responsibility would remain permanently in Israeli hands even as Palestinians retain day-to-day control of populated areas.
Bennett's remarks put him squarely at odds with decades of international consensus, including longstanding U.S. policy, that a negotiated two-state solution based roughly on 1967 lines remains the intended path to lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Critics of his framework argue that formal Israeli control over Area C, combined with only limited Palestinian autonomy elsewhere, would foreclose the possibility of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state. Supporters within Israel's right-wing camp view the plan as a pragmatic alternative that prioritizes security guarantees over what they see as an unworkable diplomatic goal. The renewed comments arrive amid ongoing debate in Israel and internationally over what a durable postwar political arrangement for the West Bank and Gaza should look like.