Israel premier rejects warning of binational state

Kerry also criticised Israel’s continued expansion of Jewish settlements in areas that the Palestinians claim as part of a future state, noting Palestinians were prevented from construction activity in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

Kerry called on leaders at the Saban Forum in Washington, D.C., to work harder to end violence in the region and renew commitments on both sides to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rejecting the warning, declared Sunday that “Israel will not be a binational state” and blamed the Palestinians for the failure of peace efforts.

Mr Kerry had cautioned against calls from some Israeli politicians to let the Palestinian Authority wither, calling them counterproductive and self-defeating for Israel.

“The one-state solution is no solution at all for a secure, Jewish, democratic Israel living in peace, it is simply not a viable option”, Kerry said.

Near-daily attacks in Israel began in September and have shown no signs of relenting.

The bloodshed has been fuelled by Muslim agitation over increased Jewish visits to East Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound – Islam’s third holiest site and also revered by Jews as the location of two biblical-era temples.

At least 115 Palestinians and almost 20 Israelis have been killed in the recent wave of clashes between Palestinians and Israelis since the start of October.

On Friday. Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom says Israel is conducting “extra-judicial executions” of Palestinian stabbers, shooters and drivers using their vehicles to mow down innocent Israelis.

“Without the Palestinian Authority security forces the (Israel Defence Forces) could be forced to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers to the West Bank indefinitely to fill the void”, Mr Kerry said.

Israel said the current spate of violence is due to incitement by Palestinian leaders over the Jerusalem holy site as well as videos encouraging violence spread on social media. But over two decades of failed peace talks have convinced many that a deal is not possible.

The left still favors a pullout, but the rationale has shifted to something more like nationalism: without a pullout, Israel would no longer be a Jewish-majority democracy because half of its population in effect will be Palestinians, a lot of them without true democratic rights. Adding the West Bank and Gaza, demographers have said, would make the Arab and Jewish populations essentially equal.

Mr Netanyahu responded by saying that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not a single state for both people, but a “demilitarised Palestinian state” that recognised Israel.

Wallstrom has drawn censure from the rightist Israeli government before; over Sweden’s recognition of Palestinian statehood previous year and, following last month’s gun and bomb rampage by Islamic State militants in Paris, when she described the Palestinians’ plight as a factor leading to radicalization.