US ambassador to Israel does not think Palestinian state is Washington goal
An independent Palestinian state no longer appears to be a goal of US foreign policy, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, has said.
In an interview with Bloomberg that was published on Tuesday, Mr Huckabee also said that if a Palestinian state were to be formed, it would not be in the West Bank.
'Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there's no room for it,' Mr Huckabee said, adding that those changes probably will not happen 'in our lifetime'.
'I don't think so,' he said when asked if a Palestinian state remains a goal of US policy.
Regarding a hypothetical location for any eventual state, Mr 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?' said Mr Huckabee, 69, using the biblical name the Israeli government favours for the West Bank, where about three million Palestinians live under occupation.
Palestinians say that Israel has made a formation of a state nearly impossible by building more and bigger Jewish settlements in the West Bank and undermining Palestinian authorities, while doing little to stop settler violence against Palestinians.
European and Arab countries have been working to promote the creation of a Palestinian state led by the Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the West Bank, as part of a process to end the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
A conference in New York on June 17, sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, will be focused on such a state with the idea that the Palestinian Authority lead a multilateral effort to drive Hamas from Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
Asked how the war could be brought to a conclusion, Mr Huckabee placed the blame for it on Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the US and European Union, saying the Iran-backed group must free its remaining hostages for the conflict to end.
Concern is building among international governments that Gaza's two million inhabitants are facing starvation after Israel barred aid for several weeks from early in March to put pressure on Hamas.
A US-Israeli group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been working to deliver supplies in recent days but its work has been marred by violence.
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