“In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control all territory west of Jordan. Netanyahu said during a news conference Thursday that he had rejected those calls, arguing such a step would clash with the security of Israel. The lack of certainty only underscored the challenge Biden faces as he tries to apply pressure on Netanyahu to adopt a new battlefield approach and plan for a future in Gaza, only to be met with open resistance and disagreement.īiden and Netanyahu remain publicly at odds over the fundamental question of what will happen to Gaza once the Israel-Hamas war concludes, despite intense American efforts over the past several months to engage officials in Israel and the wider region on a plan they hope can finally resolve the decades-long conflict.īiden and his top officials - including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Israel and the region last week - have said the creation of a Palestinian state with guarantees for Israel’s security is the only way to finally bring peace and stability to the Middle East. The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement Saturday: “In his conversation with President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his policy that after Hamas is destroyed Israel must retain security control over Gaza to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, a requirement that contradicts the demand for Palestinian sovereignty.” “I think that’s the formula that can help us move forward and find solutions that will be good for Israelis and good for Palestinians too.” “The idea is to find a formula where the Palestinians can rule themselves but not be in a position to threaten Israel,” Regev said. Mark Regev, Netanyahu’s senior adviser, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Saturday that Israel intends for Palestinians to govern themselves but without the capability to threaten Israel. “I’ll let you know when I get him to agree,” Biden told reporters. He was less clear exactly how he would achieve it. “There’s a number of countries that are members of the UN that … don’t have their own military a number of states that have limitations, and so I think there’s ways in which this can work,” Biden said.

Hours after getting off the phone with Netanyahu, Biden made reference to that possibility when speaking to reporters at the White House, saying he believed “there are a number of types of two-state solutions.”

And those are among the schools of thought that inform the president’s thinking as he pushes for a two-state solution with a security guarantee for Israel, the official added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained to President Joe Biden in a phone call Friday that the public comments he made a day earlier - in which he appeared to reject the idea of creating a Palestinian state - were not meant to foreclose that outcome in any form, a person familiar with the conversation told CNN.īiden and Netanyahu discussed the possible attributes of a future Palestinian state that would ultimately need to be negotiated, the person added, describing the conversation as “serious” and “detailed.”īiden administration officials have recently been engaged in discussions about a future demilitarized Palestinian state, an idea the president finds “intriguing,” the person said.īiden is certainly familiar with the ideas of a demilitarized Palestinian state or one with a significantly limited military force that have been discussed over the years, one administration official said.

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