Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized the stance of his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the establishment of the Palestinian state after Netanyahu claimed yesterday in a nationally televised press conference that the so-called "two-state solution" is dead. "I was not surprised when I heard the (Israeli) Prime Minister Netanyahu share that. This has been his position for a long time."

Trudeau said yesterday at a press conference in Iqaluit, the capital of the Nunavut territory, where he signed a historic agreement with the authorities of this Canadian territory, "He and I had an intensive conversation on this very subject and others just a few weeks ago."

Trudeau added that Canada's position is very clear. We believe the only way forward in the region, and indeed the only way forward for a secure and safeguarded Israel, is for there to be a Palestinian state that is also secure and safeguarded with internationally recognized borders. We believe in the two-state solution, and Netanyahu’s revealing his position so clearly yesterday opens the door to a potential conflict with Israel's most important supporter, US President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu’s approach in this way to his citizens came after weeks of pressure from the United States to persuade his government to commit to a post-Gaza war plan that includes a clear roadmap for establishing an independent sovereign Palestinian state.

Israel’s Western allies are committed to the Oslo agreements
Despite Israeli requests made secretly to Biden to stop talking about the two-state solution during the current war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the American president and his envoys insisted on the mentioned solution.

All of Israel’s Western allies say they want a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict according to the principle of land for peace which Israel agreed to three decades ago under the Oslo agreements with the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Netanyahu has long opposed the two-state solution, but generally avoided saying it explicitly, at least in English.

In Hebrew he was more explicit. It is noted in this regard that the Israeli English-language newspaper “The Jerusalem Post” published in 2010 a video clip from 2001 in which Netanyahu said in Hebrew that he “effectively ended the Oslo agreements.”

Netanyahu’s nationally televised press conference yesterday will cause more embarrassment for Biden, who has provided Israel with unconditional support since Hamas attacks on it on October 7. Biden insists that the United States and Israel are working together towards a two-state based solution, but Netanyahu said to Israelis yesterday that “The Prime Minister must be able to say ‘no’ to our friends” “In any future arrangement... Israel needs security control over all the territories west of the (Jordan) River,” added Netanyahu.

“What most caught my attention was the use of the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’,” said the Head of the Palestinian General Commission in Canada, Mona Abu Amara, in an interview with CBC Television (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s English service), commenting on Netanyahu’s remarks and pointing out that Palestinians who use the same language are routinely condemned, during these last three months, Netanyahu said everything Western democracies refuse to believe and blamed the Palestinians for not achieving and implementing the peace initiative,” added the Palestinian ambassador, “but Netanyahu came out and said he is the reason for the failure of the Oslo agreements, and now says he will not allow any part of it to be implemented.”

CBC Television urged Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Eido Mayed, to comment on his Prime Minister’s remarks yesterday, and he responded that Israel’s current focus is on achieving victory in the current war and not on post-war arrangements.

“Talking about the two-state solution is intangible at the moment, so there is no reason to discuss it,” said the Israeli ambassador, “Once we win this war, we will see.”