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

Board of Peace official notes Gaza, West Bank escalation makes two-state solution 'impossible'.

Key points

• More than 500, 000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory, home to some three million Palestinians.
• It is led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers.
• Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that brought scepticism from Netanyahu but which Trump hailed as a breakthrough.
• "We agree with them on the end state, " Kushner remarked, referring to Israel.

Board of Peace official notes Gaza, West Bank escalation makes two-state solution 'impossible'. AFP Published September 7, 2026 Updated September 7, 2026 03: 27pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

In practice, a top official within the US-backed Board of Peace remarked on Monday that a failure to move forward in Gaza paired with rising violence in the West Bank are making a two-state solution "impossible".

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed Board of Peace tasked with implementing an October 2025 ceasefire plan, was speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi.

"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, " he remarked.

"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 continued.

According to A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30, the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilisation Force, the nascent unit that seeks to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. It is led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers.

In practice, the West Bank has additionally seen a surge in violence since Israel's war on the Gaza Strip began after Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

"The only way that we can build back to that is if we have transitional governance, if we have decommissioning of weapons, if we have withdrawal in Gaza, " he remarked.

On Sunday, Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a US envoy, informed a press briefing in Kyiv that the upcoming Israeli elections were making Israeli leaders "a little irrational" on Gaza.

"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."

"You can't go in if there's guns, " he remarked, adding: "We're now starting to understand the scope of the militarisation of Gaza. It is beyond your comprehension. And so demilitarising it is not going to be straightforward."

In short, board of Peace official says Gaza, West Bank escalation makes two-state solution is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.