US Holds Deep Doubts About Palestinian State, Ambassador Says
The US no longer wholeheartedly endorses an independent state for Palestinians, Washington’s ambassador to Israel said, adding that if one were to be formed it could be elsewhere in the region rather than the West Bank.
“Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it,” Mike Huckabee, an appointee of US President Donald Trump, said in an interview with Bloomberg in Jerusalem. Those probably won’t happen “in our lifetime,” he added.
When asked if a Palestinian state remains a goal of US policy, as it has been for the past two decades, he said: “I don’t think so.”
Regarding location, Huckabee suggested a piece of land could be carved out of a Muslim country rather than asking Israel to make room. “Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria?” Huckabee, 69, said, using the biblical name the Israeli government favors for the West Bank, where some 3 million Palestinians live under occupation.
