Brussels, Belgium(National Times)- A top official within the US-backed Board of Peace said on Monday that a failure to move forward in Gaza paired with rising violence in the West Bank are making a two-state solution \u201cimpossible\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed Board of Peace tasked with implementing an October 2025 ceasefire plan, was speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would say that if Gaza continues the way it is now, or does not move into implementing\u2026 the plan that we have under the comprehensive plan, the two-state solution will become practically impossible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause, with everything that is happening in the West Bank, and with more than 50 per cent of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50 per cent under the control of Hamas, there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 said that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilisation Force, the nascent unit that aims to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. It is led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that brought scepticism from Netanyahu but which Trump hailed as a breakthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The West Bank has also seen a surge in violence since Israel\u2019s war on the Gaza Strip began following Hamas\u2019s attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory, home to some three million Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe only way that we can build back to that is if we have transitional governance, if we have decommissioning of weapons, if we have withdrawal in Gaza,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sunday, Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law and a US envoy, told a press briefing in Kyiv that the upcoming Israeli elections were making Israeli leaders \u201ca little irrational\u201d on Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe agree with them on the end state,\u201d Kushner said, referring to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey just have a crazy election and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards, but we\u2019re very determined and we\u2019re working through these things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t go in if there\u2019s guns,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cWe\u2019re now starting to understand the scope of the militarisation of Gaza. It is beyond your comprehension. And so demilitarising it is not going to be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brussels, Belgium(National Times)- A top official within the US-backed Board of Peace said on Monday that a failure to move forward in Gaza paired with rising violence in the West Bank are making a two-state solution \u201cimpossible\u201d. Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed Board of Peace tasked with implementing an October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n