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Netanyahu says no Palestinian state as long as he's prime minister

16 March 2015 21:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a final bid to shore up right-wing support ahead of a knife-edge vote on Tuesday, said he would not permit a Palestinian state to be created under his watch if he is re-elected, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Trailing his centre-left opponent Isaac Herzog in opinion polls, the three-term leader has sought to shift the focus away from socioeconomic issues and on to security challenges, saying he alone can defend Israel.

Having previously hinted that he would accept a Palestinian state, Netanyahu reversed course on Monday, citing risks that he linked to the regional spread of Islamist militancy. He said that if he is re-elected, the Palestinians would not get the independent state they seek in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

"Whoever moves to establish a Palestinian state or intends to withdraw from territory is simply yielding territory for radical Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel," he told the Israeli news site NRG.

Asked if that meant a state would not be established if he remained prime minister, he said: "Indeed."

Herzog, leader of Israel's Labour party, favors reviving peace talks with U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Herzog's centrist running mate, Tzipi Livni, was formerly a member of Netanyahu's conservative coalition government and handled negotiations with Abbas until they stalled last April.

Herzog and Livni have accused Netanyahu of playing up fears over the Palestinians and Iran's nuclear program to distract voters from the high cost of living and other social issues, which according to surveys are Israelis' principal concerns.

No single party has ever won an outright majority in the legislature, making coalitions the norm. Israel's president picks the political leader whom he believes has the best chance of forming a coalition to have a go first.

In that respect, Netanyahu's pledge, coupled with his visit to a prominent West Bank settlement earlier on Monday where he promised to go on building on occupied land, appeared designed to draw as much of the right-wing vote as possible.

That may succeed in closing the four-seat gap that the centre-left has over his Likud party going into the vote, increasing the possibility that President Reuven Rivlin will choose him to try to form a coalition first, not the opposition.