Rishi Sunak has said he disagreed with the Israeli ambassador to the UK after she rejected the idea of a two-state solution with Palestine.
The prime minister stressed that the UK remains committed to a two-state solution after ambassador Tzipi Hotovely said Tel Aviv does not support an independent country for Palestinians.
Ms Hotovely said “absolutely no” to the prospect of two states following the current conflict in Gaza – claiming Palestinians “want to have a state from the river to the sea”.
Asked about her controversial remarks on Thursday morning, Mr Sunak said: “We don’t agree with that. Our longstanding position remains that the two-state solution is the right outcome here.”
The Conservative party leader said the conflict in the Middle East is “incredibly concerning” and that “far too many innocent people have lost their lives”.
Mr Sunak repeated his call for a “sustainable ceasefire” that involves Hamas no longer firing rockets at Israel and freeing hostages in exchange for more aid into the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s ambassador to the UK said the Oslo Accords – a peace process started in the 1990s and based on giving Palestinian people the right to self-determination – had “failed”.
Rishi Sunak with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at No 10 earlier this year— (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Asked by Sky News in an interview whether Palestinians would have their own state in any peace deal, Ms Hotovely replied: “The answer is absolutely no.”
She added: “Israel knows today, and the world should know now, the reason the Oslo accord failed is because the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel … They want to have a state from the river to the sea.”
The top Israeli diplomat questioned why western nations were “so obsessed with a formula that never worked, that created this radical people on the other side”.
The comments come as foreign secretary David Cameron announced travel sanctions on “extremist settlers” in the West Bank – who he accused of “undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians’ by “targeting and killing Palestinian civilians”.
Lord Cameron tweeted: “Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.”
The foreign secretary added: “We are banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts.”
The United Nations’ General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, a move that was objected to by the US and abstained on by the UK.
But Ms Hotovely said Israel needs “more than a few weeks” to “finish the job” – adding that Israeli cities had been barraged by 11,000 rockets in recent weeks.
She said a ceasefire now would be akin to welcoming “another attack” on Israel like that witnessed on 7 October.
Hamas’s bloody raids on Israel more than two months ago saw 1,200 people killed and more than 240 taken hostage. Israel’s air and ground assault launched in response has killed more than 18,600 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
