Defense Minister reportedly told PA chairman he believes in the
two-state solution, but “this government has limitations.”

Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas during their recent meeting that he wants to be “the new Rabin”, Channel 12 News reported on Friday.

According to the report, PA cabinet leader Mohammad Shtayyeh relayed details of the meeting between Gantz and Abbas in a recent meeting with Arab Israeli activists and journalists.

Gantz told Abbas, according to Shtayyeh, “I believe in the two-state solution and believe is the appropriate solution. I want to be the new Rabin, but this government has limitations.”

Abbas, for his part, told Gantz that “if the current [Israeli] government does not want to accept the two-state solution on the basis of the [pre-]1967 borders, we will work to promote another solution – the Partition Plan from 1947.”

The Defense Minister’s Office said in response that the quote from Gantz’s meeting with Abbas was “inaccurate” but would not elaborate.

A senior official in the government criticized Gantz following his meeting with Abbas, saying he “only cares about his own political interests” and “is behaving like a government within a government.”

The Defense Minister, however, insisted that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was aware of his meeting with Abbas and had approved it.

(Arutz 7).