From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Eisenkot dismisses belief in two-state solution as ‘delusional,’ but comes out against E1 settlement expansion plan
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Yashar party chair and election frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot says that anyone who still believes in the two-state solution following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack is “delusional,” but criticizes the government for pushing ahead with the controversial E1 settlement plan, which would block territorial contiguity between major Palestinian population centers.
The former military chief also laments the spiralling settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, in an excerpt from an interview with the Israel Hayom daily which will be published in full on Friday.
“Anyone who is thinking about a two-state solution after October 7 is just delusional,” says Eisenkot, when asked about the broadly accepted international stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But at the same time, he says that the E1 settlement project — which supporters have said is intended to block a path to Palestinian statehood — is a “mistake” that is costing Israel on the international stage.
“I recall that Netanyahu himself opposed this for a long time, and due to coalition pressure, he gave in and approved it,” he says of the plan.
He criticizes the government, and particularly far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, for the IDF’s loss of control in the West Bank in the face of near-daily settler violence against Palestinians.
“Netanyahu gave the police to Ben Gvir and COGAT to Smotrich, and therefore the IDF lost its sovereignty in the region, and it must be returned,” says Eisenkot. Smotrich holds some control over COGAT, the unit that oversees civilian matters in the West Bank, through his ministerial position inside the Defense Ministry.
“The activities of these two ministers, together with the incidents of settler violence against Palestinians, are causing Israel to lose international legitimacy and are endangering the settlement movement in its entirety,” the Yashar chair warns. “The pair are sabotaging Israel’s national interests.”
The Times of Israel Community.