War In Israel Opens Up Policy Fissure in the US Over ‘Two-state Solution’
Ron DeSantis contradicts longstanding, bipartisan agreement
Republican bluster over the fresh conflict in Israel has opened a rift in US foreign policy which has stood through both political parties for at least 30 years: the “two-state solution” to peace in Israel and Palestine.
A two-state solution for Israel and Palestine goes back at least half a century, to a United Nations resolution in 1974, calling for “two States, Israel and Palestine … side by side within secure and recognized borders.”
It's been US foreign policy since at least 1993 when the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed on a plan to implement a two-state solution as part of the Oslo Accords, which was brokered by President Bill Clinton and supported by presidents of both parties since then.
Now at least one Republican candidate for president is using the outbreak of violence against Israel by Hamas to now denounce a two-state solution.
Hamas over the weekend launched a series of attacks from Gaza against Israel, which prompted fierce retaliation by Israeli forces with a death toll rising to nearly 1,600 on both sides.
Even since the waves of violence began, the Biden administration reaffirmed US commitment to a two-state solution.
“We have always made clear that we continue to support the two-state solution and that we continue to support measures that will improve the dignity, the prosperity, the lives of both Palestinians and Israeli citizens alike,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller. “The secretary [of state] has made that clear on a number of occasions, the president has made that clear, and that is what we have worked to advance in our policy.
“At the same time, we have worked to advance relationships between Israel and its neighbors, and we don't see those two in conflict,” he added.
However, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, one of those seeking the Republican nomination for president, publicly denied any two-state solution.
“We will not pressure them to do a so-called two state solution with Palestinian Arabs,” DeSantis said, referring to Israel, during an interview with a right-wing media outlet. “There is no two-state solution.”
Please support our work…
Please subscribe…