US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that Washington does not wholeheartedly back a Palestinian state under the current circumstances.
“Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it,” Huckabee told Bloomberg, adding that the changes are unlikely to occur “in our lifetime.”
Asked whether the establishment of a Palestinian state is still a goal of American policy, Huckabee said, “I don’t think so.”
The US envoy then went on to float establishing a state for the Palestinians outside of the area currently controlled by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria?” he asked, using a biblical term for the West Bank. “Does it need to be somewhere different? Does it need to be an opportunity for people to have a true place that is completely their own? Or is it going to be in the existing areas that are currently under the dominion of the PA?”
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority — established as part of the long-dormant peace process between Israel and the Palestinians — maintains both civil and security control over parts of the West Bank (Area A), and civil control, but not security control, over other parts (Area B), while other parts of the territory are under Israel’s full control (Area C).
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in 1967, after the latter attacked Israel during the Six Day War.
“I don’t believe anyone can say ‘it’s impossible, it’ll never happen’ — but if someone wants to declare that this is the exact strip of geography that is going to be the future Palestinian state, that’s where the complication comes from,” Huckabee said.
The interviewer pressed: “Are you suggesting that somewhere other than Mandatory Palestine area” — referring to the British-controlled territory that encompassed present-day Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, between the First World War and 1948 — “that it could be in Saudi Arabia, or something?”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested earlier this year, apparently in jest, establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia, drawing condemnation from across the Arab world.
“I’m just saying, I think every option should be, and could be, on the table,” Huckabee responded.
“Israel has a little, narrow strip of real estate,” the ambassador said, noting that the Jewish state is about the size of New Jersey.
“Muslim-controlled countries have 644 times the amount of land that Israel has. So when people say ‘Israel has to give something,’ you kind of scratch your head and say, okay, let me see if I get this right.”
He went on: “Why should these people [Israel] give way, when these people [‘Muslim-controlled countries’] have a lot of room when they could say, ‘We’ll carve out something’?”
“I’m not suggesting it would be or it should be [elsewhere in the region], just that it could be — and that if the idea is that Israel needs to carve out more and more land, maybe that’s why they’re resistant to that,” said Huckabee.
Asked about Huckabee’s comments, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce repeatedly declined to say whether Washington still backs a two-state solution. “I’m not going to parse the ambassador’s remarks,” Bruce said, adding that the foreign policy issue is a question for the White House, not the State Department.
Huckabee, 69, and a reverend in addition to his political career, has been one of the evangelical Christian community’s most ardent supporters of Israel.
He has called Israel’s claim to the West Bank stronger than American ties to Manhattan and laid bricks in 2018 as ground was broken on a new housing complex in the settlement of Efrat.
The dovish Peace Now organization lambasted Huckabee’s comments, accusing him of seeking to “realize his religious fantasies.”
“Mike Huckabee turned himself into the spokesperson for [far-right Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and [MK Orit] Strock,” said the group, which advocates for a two-state solution.
“This is not an ambassador, this is an Evangelist who is dreaming of the war of Gog and Magog in the Middle East in order to realize his religious fantasies,” continued the organization, referring to biblical prophecies about the end of days.
“It can only be hoped that President Trump will prove that he is a friend of Israel, repudiate the comments of the ambassador, which contradict the position of the US, his vision for the region, and the Israeli interest.”
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Huckabee’s remarks.
US President Donald Trump gave mixed messages during his first term concerning his support for a two-state solution, saying on several occasions that he would support whatever arrangement the Israelis and the Palestinians would agree to.
In 2020, Trump unveiled a peace plan that he framed as a “realistic” two-state solution. The plan offered the Palestinians a state in roughly 70 percent of the West Bank that wouldn’t include Israel’s settlements, as well as a chunk of the Negev Desert and a hefty economic aid package.
The Palestinian Authority rejected the offer outright. After his first term, Trump also accused Netanyahu of being non-committal to Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement.
Huckabee’s comments also came in the wake of reports that the ambassador had met with ultra-Orthodox coalition members as part of efforts to prevent Netanyahu’s government from collapsing.
Huckabee on Tuesday denied the report, writing on X: “There has been no attempt to influence Haredi Knesset members regarding a decision to dissolve the government.” The denial was welcomed by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.