PM Netanyahu accuses foreign leaders of giving ‘prize’ to Hamas

London: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the establishment of a Palestinian state “will not happen.”

Netanyahu put out an angry statement after Britain and other Western allies said they were unilaterally recognising a Palestinian state in a step seen as a show of displeasure with Israel.

Netanyahu accused the foreign leaders of giving a “prize” to Hamas.

“It will not happen,” he said. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”

Netanyahu said he would announce Israel’s response after a trip next week to the US, where he is to meet President Donald Trump at the White House.

France and Saudi Arabia hope to use this year’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly and the

increasingly horrific war in the Gaza Strip to inject new urgency into the quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Those efforts include a new road map for eventual Palestinian statehood in territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war, and moves by several Western countries to join a global majority in recognising such a state before it has been established.

Britain, Canada and Australia formally recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday, joining nearly 150 countries that have already done so, and France is expected to follow suit at this week’s General Assembly.

But the efforts to push a two-state solution face major obstacles, beginning with vehement opposition from the United States and Israel.

The US has blocked Palestinian officials from even attending the

General Assembly.