Gaza, West Bank make two-state solution impossible: Mladenov

Nickolay Mladenov, a senior official in the US-backed Board of Peace, said Monday that lack of progress in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank were making a two-state solution “practically impossible”.

Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the body tasked with implementing an October ceasefire plan, spoke at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi. He said that if Gaza did not move ahead with the plan, a two-state solution would become “practically impossible”.

He cited violence in the West Bank and said more than half of Gaza was under Israeli army control while less than half was under Hamas control. “There is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict,” he said.

Mladenov said the way back required transitional governance, the decommissioning of weapons and withdrawal in Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem responded by urging Mladenov to push reconstruction efforts forward and to press Israel to abide by what had been agreed.

A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 said weapons decommissioning would be supervised by the International Stabilization Force, a nascent unit that aims to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. The unit is led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers.

Hamas pledged to hand its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that drew scepticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but was welcomed by US President Donald Trump as a breakthrough.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a US envoy, said Sunday that upcoming Israeli elections were making Israeli leaders “a little irrational” on Gaza. He said demilitarising Gaza would not be easy.

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the Gaza war began after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, among about three million Palestinians.