Did Benjamin Netanyahu finally put an end to the Oslo accords and the two state solution 1 ?

  • For more than two decades, Benjamin Netanyahu has played a central role in the failure of the US-sponsored Oslo negotiations process and the two-state solution that it’s predicated on. As he boasted to a group of Israeli settlers in a candid moment caught on video in 2001 following his first term as prime minister (1996-1999): "I de facto put an end to the Oslo Accords.” Regarding pressure from the US, Netanyahu said: "America is a thing you can move very easily." In the video he also told the settlers that the way to deal with Palestinians is to "beat them up, not once but repeatedly, beat them up so it hurts so badly, until it's unbearable."
  • Throughout his political career, Netanyahu has opposed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, pronouncements to the contrary made for international consumption following his return to power in 2009 notwithstanding. He is also a longtime supporter of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, which is a major obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied territories.
  • In March 2015, while running for his fourth term as prime minister, Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, promising that he would never allow it to happen as long as he’s in office. Although he attempted to backtrack on his statement following international condemnation, it is entirely consistent with Netanyahu’s actions and policies over the past two and a half decades. The same month, Netanyahu’s Likud party issued an election pamphlet declaring that the 2009 speech in which he first stated that he supported a Palestinian state (with numerous occasions) was “null and void,” explaining:The Prime Minister announced that the Bar-Ilan [University] speech is null and void… Netanyahu's entire political biography is a fight against the creation of a Palestinian state.After initially backtracking following media attention, the campaign issued a second statement declaring:

“there will be no concessions or withdrawals [from the occupied territories]; they are simply irrelevant."

  • In December 2014, the Associated Press reported that official Israeli statistics revealed the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank grew 23% between 2009, when Netanyahu returned to power for his second term, and 2013, more than double the rate of population growth within Israel’s internationally-recognized pre-1967 borders, which stood at 9.6%.