Gantz’s Blue and White party backs Israel’s hold on Jordan Valley, settlement blocs

The Blue and White party headed by former Israeli military chief Benny Gantz will decline to back the establishment of a Palestinian state in its election platform, reported the Times of Israel.

According to reports in the Israeli media yesterday, Blue and White – a merger of Gantz’s Israel Resilience party, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, and Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem party – will support Israel’s permanent annexation of illegal settlement “blocs” in the occupied West Bank.

According to Channel 13 news, the party’s diplomatic platform “will include support for a ‘united’ Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, continued Israeli control over the Jordan Valley, and retaining settlement blocs in the West Bank”.

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Jerusalem, the settlement blocs, the Jordan Valley, and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, are all listed as four “strategic areas” from which there will be no withdrawal.

Reports suggest that, while voicing support for some kind of negotiations with the Palestinians, the Blue and White platform does not refer to a Palestinian state or even a two-state solution.

Instead, there is a call for a “Regional Conference to Promote Separation from the Palestinians”.