THE UK ambassador of Israel has dismissed the notion of two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
Tzipi Hotovely said "the answer is absolutely no" in response to the idea of a two-state solution in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday evening.
Hotovely is considered to be a hard-right diplomat and in a speech in 2015, she said Israel had tried too hard to appease the world.
“This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologise for that," she said at the time.
It comes as the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to demand a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday in a strong demonstration of global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war.
The vote showed the growing isolation of the United States and Israel. The UK abstained in the vote.
READ MORE: Tommy Sheppard: Two-state solution is needed amid Israel-Hamas war
A two-state solution has been an ideal since the late 1990s, when the Oslo Accords created hope an agreement could be reached to give the Israelis and Palestinians their own territories - however, several factors are now considered obstacles.
On Sky News on Wednesday night, presenter Mark Austin asked the ambassador: "Is there still a chance for a two-state solution?"
She replied: “It’s about time for the world to realise that the Oslo paradigm failed on October 7, and we need to build a new one."
Hotovely was then asked if that "new one" included Palestinians living in a state of their own.
She added: "I think the biggest question is what type of Palestinians are on the other side, this is what Israel realised on October 7."
READ MORE: UK abstains on UN vote demanding ceasefire in Gaza
Asked again if Palestine would have a state, she said: "The answer is absolutely no, and I'll tell you why.
"Israel knows today and the world should know now that the reason the Oslo Accords failed because Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel."
"They want to have a state from the river to the sea."
Asked again if the two-state solution was dead, she asked: "Why are you obsessed with a formula that never worked, that created this radical people on the other side, why are you obsessed with that?"
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