Israeli gov't wants to replace two-state solution with annexation, settlement: Palestinian official

RAMALLAH, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestine official said Sunday that the new Israeli government formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently is replacing peace and the two-state solution with annexation and settlement.

Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee, told "Voice of Palestine" that the peace process and the option of the two-state solution "are no longer on the agenda of the new Israeli government."

He added that the extreme right-wing government "has replaced both the peace process in the Middle East and the two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian with annexation, settlement and ethnic cleansing."

On Friday, Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, announced that he has succeeded in forming a coalition government with several other hardline and ultra-Orthodox parties.

"The coalition agreements reached between Netanyahu and the leaders of the Israeli right-wing parties are a fundamental and major revolution in the nature of governance and politics," Majdalani said.

Netanyahu and his right-wing bloc won the majority of votes in November's parliamentary elections, which came after nearly four years of inconclusive elections.

Majdalani warned that the program of the new Israeli government "will ignite the conflict again and fuel it," adding that "the Palestinian leadership will not be the only party committed to the signed agreements."

He said that "the world does not present requirements to the government of Israel for its parties to recognize international law and UN resolutions, and this is one of the issues of double standards applied by the legitimacy of the U.S. administration."

The last direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians ended in March 2014 after the United States sponsored them for nine months without making any progress due to significant differences over the settlements and Palestinian state borders.

The Palestinians want to establish a Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.