Israel's Netanyahu 'proud' of preventing Palestinian statehood, labels Oslo Accords 'fateful mistake'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was "proud" of preventing the emergence of a Palestinian state during a press conference on Saturday.

Netanyahu, who was speaking alongside Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet member Benny Gantz, also claimed that he had halted the progression of the Oslo peace process, which began in 1993 calling the accords "a fateful mistake".

The Oslo Accords were an agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation that saw the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza as part of a process that were meant to lead to a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"I'm proud that I prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state because today everybody understands what that Palestinian state could have been, now that we've seen the little Palestinian state in Gaza," referring to the Hamas attacks on Israel that killed around 1,140 people and took around 240 hostages.

He added that he would "not let the State of Israel go back to the fateful mistake of Oslo" accusing both Hamas and its rival Fatah, which dominates the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, of wanting to destroy Israel. Fatah recognised Israel when the Oslo Accords were signed.

His comments come after a number of Israeli officials said that there will be no two-state solution following the end of Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza, which has destroyed much of the besieged Palestinian territory and killed 18,800 people, mostly women and children, with a further 51,000 wounded.

Israel's right-wing ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, answered "absolutely no" when asked during an interview on Sky News about whether a two-state solution would arise following the end the Gaza War.

When asked by Piers Morgan on Talk TV about whether the Palestinians should have their own state, Mark Regev, an adviser to Netanyahu referred to a speech by Yitzak Rabin, stating that "the Palestinians will have less than a state".

Following Hotovely's comments, the US and UK have reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution, with UK Foreign Minister David Cameron calling her remarks "disappointing".