Israel’s former prime minister and leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, has called on current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognise the sovereignty of the Palestinian state under certain conditions, after three other European countries – Spain, Ireland and Norway – announced yesterday that they will recognise Palestinian sovereignty and independence on 28 May.
Lapid, leader of the centre-liberal and secular Yesh Atid party (the party with the most seats in the Israeli Knesset, after Netanyahu’s Likud), said, however, that he believes the current prime minister will not make such a decision because of pressure from his national security minister, the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“Netanyahu should declare that, under certain conditions and specific guarantees, he is ready to accept a future Palestinian state that collaborates in the fight against terrorism,” said Lapid without elaborating on those conditions, referring to the “madness in which we are living” and criticising Ben-Gvir for “not allowing” Netanyahu to make such a decision.
“This is not going to happen with this government. We need to send this (Netanyahu’s) government home, and form an effective one,” the Israeli opposition leader insisted. International pressure against Israel is growing as Palestinian civilian casualties mount, with more than 35,000 dead and 80,000 wounded, and especially after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) called for Netanyahu to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In addition to Ireland, Spain and Norway, the Palestinian state has been recognised in Europe by Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Sweden and Cyprus.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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