Israel killing off a Palestinian State: Action is needed not more words!
JVL Introduction
This short Guardian piece spells out the methodology to kill off any chance of a Palestinian State and this purpose is openly declared by some in the government. Even the White House tut tuts about annexation but annexation is happening de facto and de jure and nothing is being done by the international community at government level other than words of disapproval (and clamping down on those protesting the genocide).
The Knesset decisions only further enshrine what is already happening in the West Bank even while Netanyahu is sabotaging phase two of the Gaza “ceasefire” – and that within the Trump deal that also has nothing to do with developing a Palestinian State. Netanyahu has long boasted about blocking the creation of a Palestinian State and his (even more) right wing colleagues continue to voice their commitment to this and to a “Greater Israel”.
The recent but long overdue recognition of a Palestinian State by several countries, including the UK, rings very hollow in the face of the dreadful reality. Action is needed from governments across the world, sanctions are essential.
LL
This article was originally published by The Guardian (Editorial) on Thu 12 Feb 2026. Read the original here.
The Guardian view on Israel and the West Bank: the other relentless assault upon Palestinians
A campaign of ethnic cleansing and ‘tectonic’ new legal measures are killing the two-state solution to which other governments pay lip service
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Israel is one of the most densely populated states in the world. To accommodate the growing population it needs two things: land and resources. It already occupies 90% of the West Bank and 56% of Gaza, as well as increasing swathes of land in Lebanon and Syria. It also wants the gas and oil reserves off the coast of Gaza. No-one will stop these expansionist policies. The West won’t as it set up the state of Israel as an outpost of Western interests. The “leaders” of the surrounding Arab states are too weak to take on the 4th or 5th most heavily armed State in the world and they also fear upsetting the status quo because another 2012 Arab Spring may surface. So the West weeps crocodile tears and tens of thousands of Palestinians are murdered. Today, Israel is dominant but history shows that with time, everything turns into its opposite. The same will happen with Israel when it can no longer meet the needs of its own people or when the West no longer has any use for it as they court the Arab regimes to safeguard oil supplies.