Bennett’s opening salvo against Palestinian statehood

Outgoing-Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has launched the first salvo in the right-wing battle against Palestinian statehood under the Trump peace initiative, as he vowed stiff opposition and declared the end of the unified right-wing bloc.

It will remain the first salvo whether Bennett becomes the “fighting opposition,” as he has phrased it, or enters the coalition at the last minute.

As the clocks tick toward annexation

under the Trump plan, opposition to the Palestinian statehood component of the initiative has been gaining steam.

Support for Palestinian statehood “is a point of no return. One can’t recognize and then un-recognize Palestinian statehood. It’s like un-cooking scrambled eggs,” Bennett told reporters on Monday.

He clarified specifically that this included the Palestinian component of the Trump plan, even if in doing so Israel would lose US support for sovereignty.

“I will oppose anything that allows for acceptance or recognition of a Palestinian state,” Bennett said.

On the international stage, US President Donald Trump’s peace plan is squarely identified with both the Israeli and American Right. The battle has been painted as Left vs Right, as the plan is heavily identified with settlement annexation. It is presumed that the plan, first unveiled in January, would destroy any hope of Palestinian statehood.

But surprisingly, in Israel, it is also about to become a battle between the centrist Right