Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visits Gaza's Kerem Shalom crossing, the strip's main commercial border terminal, July 22, 2018. (Reuters photo)
JERUSALEM, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli defense minister said Thursday a Palestinian state "doesn't interest" him, dismissing U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration that a two-state solution is the best solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"I do not care about a Palestinian state," Avigdor Lieberman told reporters during a tour in northern Israel, according to Ynet news site. "I am interested in a secure Jewish state," he added.
He attacked Israel's Palestinian Arab minority as disloyal to the State of Israel. "There are 20 percent Arab citizens who demonstrate on every occasion holding Palestinian flags. This is the problem that needs to be solved," he said.
On Wednesday, during joint remarks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sideline of the UN General Assembly, Trump said he supports a two-state solution. It was the first time Trump has endorsed it.
Netanyahu did not comment on Trump's statement but later he held a briefing for journalists, saying he would accept a self-ruling Palestinian authority but only if Israel will retain the security control over that territory.
"I am prepared for the Palestinians to have the ability to defend themselves without the ability to threaten us," he said. "Except for Gaza, security control west of the Jordan River until the sea will remain in our hands. That is non-negotiable and will not change as long as I am prime minister. I am confident that any American initiative will include this principle," he added.
Responding to his statement, Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told the Palestinian news agency of WAFA that not a single Israeli soldier will be accepted to remain on a Palestinian land.
"We would only accept an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital," said Abu Rudeineh.
Israel seized the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war and has kept its control over these territories ever since, despite international criticism.
The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks reached an impasse in 2014 amid Israel's continuing construction in the West Bank settlements.
