Can US pressure Netanyahu to accept Palestinian state for Israel-Saudi normalization?

TEL AVIV — Will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accept a compromise on Gaza and the two-state solution in exchange for normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia? This is the burning question in both the Israeli government and the Biden administration.

Netanyahu has gone to great lengths in recent weeks to express his opposition to a two-state solution in what’s broadly seen as a direct appeal to the right flank of his coalition government as his popularity sags and elections later this year grow more likely. 

CNN reported on Jan. 19 that Netanyahu did not rule out the possibility of a Palestinian state when he spoke privately with President Joe Biden. Netanyahu’s office issued a response on Saturday, a rare occurrence on the Jewish Sabbath, likely to avert a storm among the far-right religious members of his government. Netanyahu’s office, however, did not issue a sweeping denial, saying rather that he insists on continued Israeli security control over the entire Gaza Strip, “which contradicts the establishment of a Palestinian state on this territory.”

Biden said on Saturday that he had discussed the issue of Palestinian statehood at length with Netanyahu in their phone call the day prior. When asked by reporters whether a two-state solution was impossible with Netanyahu in office, the president answered, “No, it’s not.”