Board of Peace official says Gaza and West Bank escalation makes two-state solution 'impossible'

The two-state solution is becoming “practically impossible” as Gaza fails to move ahead and violence rises in the West Bank, Nickolay Mladenov, a senior official with the U.S.-backed Board of Peace, said on Monday.

Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, spoke at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi. The board is tasked with implementing an October ceasefire plan. He said Gaza’s current situation offered no credible route toward a political settlement.

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I would say that if Gaza continues the way it is now, or does not move into implementing ... the plan that we have under the comprehensive plan, the two-state solution will become practically impossible.

“Because, with everything that is happening in the West Bank, and with more than 50 per cent of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50 per cent under the control of Hamas, there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict,” he said.

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Because, with everything that is happening in the West Bank, and with more than 50 per cent of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50 per cent under the control of Hamas, there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict.

A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 says the International Stabilization Force would supervise the decommissioning of weapons. The nascent force, led by U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers, aims to deploy to Gaza if conditions stabilize. Hamas has pledged to hand its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that drew skepticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but that U.S. President Donald Trump called a breakthrough.

Mladenov said the path back to a political solution would require transitional governance, the removal of weapons and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The West Bank has experienced increased violence since the war began after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements there, alongside about three million Palestinians.

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You can't go in if there's guns.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a U.S. envoy, said in Kyiv on Sunday that Israel’s upcoming elections were making Israeli leaders “a little irrational” on Gaza. He said the United States agreed with Israel on the desired end state but was working through disagreements. Kushner also warned that demilitarizing Gaza would be difficult because of the extent of its militarization.

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We agree with them on the end state. They just have a crazy election and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards but we're very determined and we're working through these things.