Arguing in favor of a two-state solution, MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) said on Saturday that Israel should make the Palestinians “disappear” by erecting a wall to separate the two populations completely.
“We need to remove the Palestinians from our lives – we need to do this by building a high wall and making them disappear,” he told Channel 2 news. “Otherwise, there will be no peace. We do not want the two countries to be packed into a single state.”
Lapid, considered a centrist, contrasted his views to the hardline policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he sees as a political rival in the next election. As the head of Yesh Atid, Lapid sits in the opposition government against Netanyahu’s Likud coalition.
A Friday poll found that if new elections were held today, Likud and Yesh Atid would receive 25 seats each, leveling the playing field and allowing the possibility for Yesh Atid to form a government in which Lapid would hold the top role, toppling Netanyahu.
“No one can compete with Netanyahu but me,” said Lapid in the Saturday interview. “For many months, we have been the sole alternative government.”
While Lapid’s politics tend to be very centrist, calling for a two-state solution while maintaining Israel’s Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and control over Jerusalem, the Yesh Atid party is often considered left-leaning and at odds with Netanyahu’s Likud.
