article_snippet: (CNN)In the final days of the Israeli election campaign, Benjamin Netanyahu disavowed the two-state solution and said there would be no Palestinian state on Benjamin Netanyahu watch.
article_snippet: Netanyahu himself, in an interview on NBC, tried to qualify his words about a two-state solution, saying what his meant to say was that a Palestinian state was not viable under present conditions.
article_snippet: The fact is, rhetorical if not actual support for a two-state solution has served Netanyahu well for the past several years, and has provided Netanyahu with a convenient shield against international pressure to end the almost 48-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
article_snippet: Whatever he says about the two-state solution, the next Netanyahu government is virtually certain to blast ahead with settlement-building.
article_snippet: In he campaign statement, Netanyahu took pride in approving the construction of a huge suburb on the southern fringes of Jerusalem in order to block Palestinian construction from neighboring Bethlehem.
article_snippet: he boasted that settlement-building was not simply to provide housing for Jews rather than Palestinians, but that it was to make it harder for the Palestinians to establish a coherent, territorially contiguous state.
article_snippet: Netanyahu left no doubt what Netanyahu intended.
highlights_snippet: Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed idea of Palestinian state during campaign .
  