First time At UN General Assembly, Israeli PM Supports Two-State Solution For Palestine Conflict

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid. (Wikimedia Commons/Spokesperson unit of the President of Israel/Kobi Gideon)

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday called for a two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reiterating that he would do "whatever it takes" to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

His mention of a two-state solution, the first by an Israeli leader in years at the United Nations General Assembly, echoed US President Joe Biden's support in Israel in August for the long-dormant proposal.

"An agreement with Palestine, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel's security, for the Israeli economy and for the future of our children," Lapid said.

He added any deal would be conditioned on a peaceful Palestinian state, would not threaten Israel.

PM Lapid is speaking less than six weeks before a November 1 election that could restore power to far-right former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longtime opponent of the two-state solution.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, areas Palestinians seek for an independent state, in the 1967 Middle East war. US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.

Efforts to reach a two-state Israeli-Palestinian agreement have long stalled.

Palestinians and rights groups say Israel has strengthened its control over the occupied Palestinian territories, through its military rule over millions of Palestinians and persistent settlement building.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told Reuters Lapid's words "mean nothing."

"Anyone who wants a two-state solution must implement it on the ground," he said, respecting previously reached agreements, halting settlement expansion and recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides called PM Lapid's speech 'bold', because it supports a two-state solution.

PM Lapid praised the efforts of Middle Eastern countries to normalize relations and cooperate with Israel. He urged Muslim countries, from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia, to make peace with him.

On the same occasion, PM Lapid again criticized Iran and voiced Israel's determination to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"The only way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is to put a credible military threat on the table," he stressed.

"We have the capability and we are not afraid to use it," PM Lapid underlined.

Widely believed to possess the only nuclear weapon in the Middle East, Israel regards Iran as an existential threat. Tehran denies trying to develop nuclear weapons.