Netanyahu: Recognizing Palestinian state is a 'reward for terrorism'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned against the intended recognition of an independent Palestinian state as announced by Norway, Ireland and Spain.

"The intention of several European countries to recognize a Palestinian state is a reward for terrorism," Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Eighty per cent of the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] support the terrible massacre of October 7," he asserted. "This evil cannot be given a state."

"This would be a terrorist state. It will try to repeat the massacre of October 7 again and again; we will not consent to this," the Israeli prime minister asserted.

"Rewarding terrorism will not bring peace and neither will it stop us from defeating Hamas," Netanyahu added.

A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict envisages an independent Palestinian state that exists peacefully side by side with Israel.

Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution, as does the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement.

Netanyahu would have little support from his ultra-right coalition partners for a more conciliatory approach to relations with the Palestinians.

Critics have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of having tolerated or even encouraged the rise of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. As a rival to the more moderate Fatah of President Mahmoud Abbas, it has served to divide the Palestinian people in order to prevent a Palestinian state.

Many right-wing Israelis consider a Palestinian state to be an intolerable security risk for Israel.