Blinken tells Israel’s new FM: US will oppose steps that undermine 2-state solution
(Worthy News) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday stressed US opposition to policies that undermine efforts to reach a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, during his first call with new Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
The United States has repeatedly stressed this position before and after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was sworn in last week. Netanyahu’s right-religious coalition has agreed to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and legalize dozens of wildcat outposts. The first clause of its overall government guidelines specifies: “The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel” — an area that includes the biblical Judea and Samaria, today’s West Bank.
Netanyahu’s Likud party has also agreed in principle with the far-right Religious Zionism faction to work to annex large parts of the West Bank. However, those two parties’ coalition deal includes a clause giving the premier an effective veto, which he is likely to maintain, as he seeks a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]
