Huckabee suggests Muslim countries should give up land for Palestinian state
The US ambassador to Israel has suggested "Muslim countries" should give up some of their land to create a future Palestinian state.
Mike Huckabee told the BBC: "Muslim countries have 644 times the amount of land that are controlled by Israel.
"So maybe, if there is such a desire for the Palestinian state, there would be someone who would say, we'd like to host it."
The ambassador also strongly criticised US allies, including the UK and Australia, for sanctioning two far-right Israeli ministers over "repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities" in the occupied West Bank.
In his interview, the ambassador called a two-state solution - a proposed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that has generally received international backing, including from multiple US istrations - "an aspirational goal".
The two-state solution envisages an independent Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Huckabee said the US was no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state.
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce later said the ambassador "speaks for himself", and that it was the president who is responsible for US policy in the Middle East.
Later this month, at the United Nations in New York, French and Saudi diplomats will host a conference aimed at laying out a roap for an eventual Palestinian state.
Although Huckabee did not say where any future Palestinian state could be located specifically or whether the US would such an effort, he called the conference "ill-timed and inappropriate".
"It's also something that is completely wrong-headed for European states to try to impose in the middle of a war," he said, arguing that it would result in Israel being "less secure".
"At what point does it have to be in the same piece of real estate that Israel occupies">Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, one of the world's most active, erupted for the 25th time since 23 December 2024.
