The 38 electoral lists contesting Tuesday’s historic election in Israel hold a range of positions on the future of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and on relations with the Palestinian Authority. While most major Jewish parties oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, they are divided on issues such as annexation and establishing an alternative administration in Gaza. Here’s where the main parties stand.
Palestinian Statehood
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state. Doing so after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks against Israel would be “rewarding terror with an enormous prize,” he said in September last year. The leaders of the parties in his current coalition of far right and religious factions all hold similar positions.
Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who presents himself as an alternative to Netanyahu, also opposes establishing a Palestinian state. But other members of his opposition alliance have softer positions on the issue. Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party and a previous supporter of Palestinian statehood, said earlier this year that he does not see a two-state solution in the “coming years.” Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats, stands apart from members of the main opposition bloc in backing a Palestinian state.
Arab parties also advocate a two-state solution, and one of them, the Joint List, has made establishing a Palestinian state central to its platform. It also calls for equality for Arab citizens and better efforts to combat discrimination and crime in their communities.
Settlement Expansion and West Bank Security
The fate of the West Bank has featured prominently in party platforms ahead of the vote as violent attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers there have multiplied. Netanyahu’s opponents have accused him of allowing security to spiral out of control in the territory, home to about 541,000 Israeli settlers and 3.4 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s Likud party supports Jewish settlement in all parts of the West Bank and the Israeli leader has pledged to expand construction in the territory. He put his far-right coalition partner, Religious Zionism party leader Bezalel Smotrich, in charge of planning in the region, a portfolio Smotrich insisted on during coalition negotiations.
Smotrich has rolled back red tape for new construction of Jewish settlements. His party supports annexing the West Bank, bringing in hundreds of thousands of new settlers and legalizing all settlement outposts. Netanyahu’s other far-right coalition partner, Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, holds a similar position.
Escalating violence by settlers and the far-right in the West Bank could test the ability of any potential change-oriented government to assert authority, Gil Murciano, head of Israeli think-tank Mitvim, told MBN.
Opposition leader Eisenkot has called for expanding the Israeli military’s role in the territory to address the violence and said settlements should comply with Israeli law. He has also warned that a controversial plan to construct thousands of new Israeli housing units in the West Bank could split Palestinian territory, according to The Times of Israel.
Naftali Bennett, who heads opposition the “Together” electoral alliance along with Lapid, opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and supports settlement expansion. He proposes annexing around 60 percent of the West Bank while granting Palestinians self-rule in the remainder. He says he is against illegal outposts and construction on privately owned Palestinian land.
Avigdor Lieberman, another party leader in the opposition alliance, has proposed dismantling the Palestinian Authority and having Jordan assume responsibility for the parts of the West Bank that are home to most Palestinians, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The Democrats’ Golan has called for cutting off funding for settlement building and evacuation those that are unauthorized.
Hamas Disarmament and Gaza
Following Israel’s war in Gaza, Netanyahu is insisting on the disarmament of Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. He has also said Israel must continue to have security control over the strip.
His right-wing coalition partners go further, with Smotrich calling to extend Israeli sovereignty over the territory. Ben-Gvir has also described Gaza as Israeli land and demanded that Israel impose control over the territory and re-establish settlements there.
In the opposition bloc, Lapid, a former prime minister, has proposed that Egypt administer the Gaza for 15 years, with Hamas removed from power and disarmed. Bennett insists that Hamas be disarmed before reconstruction begins. He favors an Egyptian role over Qatari and Turkish involvement, according to The Washington Post. Eisenkot has also said that Hamas needs to be destroyed or dismantled.
Golan, meanwhile, supports ending Hamas rule and establishing an alternative Palestinian civilian administration. He has said that Israeli should still oversee security at borders and crossings.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
