Israel’s next Gaza war will be its last, says Avigdor Lieberman

The Israeli defence minister said this was because Israel would completely destroy all militants in the Palestinian territory.

Israeli defence minister Avigor Lieberman said he remains committed to a two-state solution. Ariel Schalit, File

JERUSALEM // Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday that Israel’s next war with Gaza militants would be its last “because we will completely destroy them”.

But, he added, he remains committed to a two-state solution.

Mr Lieberman, who was speaking in an interview with Palestinian newspaper Al Quds, said he did not want another war in Gaza, which would be Israel’s fourth since 2008.

The outspoken former foreign minister urged Palestinians to pressure Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, to “stop your crazy policies”.

“As minister of defence, I would like to clarify that we have no intention of starting a new war against our neighbours in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, Lebanon or Syria,” he told the Jerusalem-based newspaper.

“But in Gaza, like the Iranians, they intend to eliminate the state of Israel ... If they impose the next war on Israel, it will be their last. I would like to emphasise again: It will be their last confrontation because we will completely destroy them.”

Mr Lieberman is part of what is considered the most right-wing government in Israeli history, with several prominent members of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition openly opposing a Palestinian state.

But although he lives in a West Bank settlement and is known as a security-minded hardliner, Mr Lieberman maintains that he believes in a two-state solution to the conflict based on land swaps.

He reiterated that position in the interview, saying he sees the main settlement blocks in the occupied West Bank remaining part of Israel under a final peace deal.

He also raised the possibility of trading Palestinian-majority areas of Israel on the edge of the northern West Bank, such as the city of Umm Al Fahm, in exchange for settlements.

Land swaps have long been part of proposals to resolve the decades-old conflict, but the two sides remain far apart on issues such as the status of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees.

* Agence France-Presse