Italy’s leader says she supports two-state solution for Israel, Palestinians

Italy’s far-right leader, Premier Giorgia Meloni, tells lawmakers that she disagrees with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position opposing a two-state solution.

“Italy has always reiterated that the Palestinian people have the right to have a state, an independent, secure state,” Meloni says during a debate on various issues in Italy’s lower Chamber of Deputies.

“It is a just and necessary solution, both in the interests of the Palestinians but also in those of Israel. For this [reason], I don’t share the position expressed by the Israeli prime minister,” she says.

She adds: “However, recognition can’t be requested unilaterally. The precondition is the recognition of the right of existence of the Jewish state and of the right of its citizens to live in peace and security.”

Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state after the war has opened a wide rift with the United States, which says the war must lead to negotiations for a two-state solution where Israel and the Palestinians can live side-by-side in peace. That goal is supported by countries around the world.

Netanyahu, while upping his rhetoric against the two-state solution, has carefully avoided explicitly ruling out a demilitarized Palestinian state, however.