Former Likud minister: a Palestinian state ‘will not happen and we won’t let it happen’

Former minister and Likud heavyweight Gideon Sa’ar has reiterated his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, in an interview with pro-settler news site Arutz Sheva.  

“I have to say that I told American Ambassador David Friedman that I oppose establishing an Arab state in the heart of the Land of Israel”, said Sa’ar, in a reference to the occupied West Bank.

Sa’ar added that he hopes the Trump administration “won’t repeat mistakes made by previous administrations such as the Clinton and Obama administrations that presented guidelines based on establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]”.

The former senior minister – who many believe may lead Likud in the future – said that he proposed “alternative ideas” to the Trump administration “based on existing states and not on establishing another Arab state in the heart of the Land of Israel”.

READ: Israel army website lists ‘State of Judea and Samaria’, erasing West Bank

“We can consider a connection between [Palestinian] autonomy and Jordan”, he added.

“The Palestinian autonomous government may have a connection to Jordan within the framework of a regional arrangement. It cannot be that our enemies have security and demographic control over the territory”.

Sa’ar concluded that if he is “elected as a public representative” he will “act to…implement the decision of the Likud Central Committee to impose Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlement areas in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley”. “The issue of the Palestinian state in the Land of Israel should be removed from the agenda. It will not happen and we won’t let it happen. Autonomy yes; a state, no”.