US proposes Muslim nations offer land for Palestinian state

The US Ambassador to Israel has proposed that Muslim nations should let some of their territory be used to form a Palestinian state, the BBC reported on June 10th.

The ambassador, Mike Huckabee, stressed that Muslim nations have “644 times the amount of land that are controlled by Israel.” Huckabee suggested that if there is such an urgency for a Palestinian state, a country should say “we’d like to host it.”

Huckabee also criticised the UK and Australia for issuing sanctions on two far-right ministers from Israel, due to “repeated incitements of violence against” Palestinians. The ambassador added that a two-state solution to the Gaza war is an “aspirational” objective.

The two-state plan envisions a sovereign Palestinian nation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. East Jerusalem would serve as its capital, and the state would coexist alongside Israel.

Algerian foreign minister Ahmed Attaf spoke with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares about Palestine, Middle East Monitor reported on February 22nd. As Maghrebi reported, Albares emphasised the importance of a “just and permanent settlement” grounded in the two-state plan.

In another interview with Bloomberg, Huckabee declared the US had stopped aiming for a separate Palestinian nation. According to Middle East Eye on June 10th, when inquired about a Palestinian state Huckabee made a statement. He said: “Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it.”

Israel refuses a two-state solution. It insists that any final deal must arise from negotiations with the Palestinians and that statehood should not be a precondition. Huckabee has strongly backed the concept of a “greater Israel”, favouring permanent Israeli control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

BBC, Middle East Eye, Maghrebi.org, Middle East Monitor