US ambassador to Israel suggests America no longer supports two-state solution

The US ambassador to Israel has suggested America no longer supports the idea of a Palestinian state in land currently controlled by Israel, saying that “unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it”, adding that any such cultural changes are unlikely to happen “in our lifetime.”

Mike Huckabee, who was appointed to his position earlier this year, was speaking to Bloomberg in Jerusalem. When the news organisation asked him whether a Palestinian state remained a US foreign policy goal, the ambassador replied: “I don’t think so.”

He went on to question whether any such state had to be in areas currently controlled by Israel, asking whether Muslim states could instead set aside a part of their own territories to accommodate such a country. “Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria”, he asked, using the Israeli term for the Biblical heartland region which is more widely known internationally as the West Bank.

Huckabee’s comments came days after the Israeli government announced plans to build 22 settlements throughout the West Bank. If carried through, such plans would make the prospect of a future Palestinian State in the area considerably more difficult to accomplish.

The UN General Assembly is due to host a conference in New York next week to push for a return to focusing on the two-state solution. British government representatives have confirmed that they will attend the conference, which is due to be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. Israel will not be attending.

The ambassador, an evangelical Christian who previously served as Republican governor of the state of Arkansas, also told Bloomberg that he had recently met with the leaders of strictly Orthodox Israeli (Charedi) parties. A number of these parties, who are currently part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, could cause the collapse of the current government over a failure to carve out IDF draft exemptions for yeshiva students. Huckabee said he had told these party leaders that the collapse of Netanyahu’s government would not been seen positively in the US.

“Americans won’t understand a collapse of a government,” Huckabee said. “That, to Americans, signals instability.”