By Failing To Stand Up for Two States, Trump Administration Has Become Part of the Problem

August 24, 2017

J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement today in response to comments yesterday by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert explaining that the Trump administration would not express support for a two-state solution out of concern about “bias[ing] one side over another”:

“The statement by a State Department spokesperson that the US cannot expressly support a two-state solution because it might ‘bias one side over the other’ displayed dangerous ignorance about the nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what it will take to end it.”

“For more than two decades, responsible Israeli and Palestinian leaders, US presidents of both parties and virtually the entire international community have understood that a two-state solution is the only viable way to end the conflict. By refusing to support it, the Trump administration is showing bias toward the extreme positions of both Israeli and Palestinian rejectionists who are determined to undermine any serious peace efforts.”

“The Trump administration has spoken often of its desire to broker a comprehensive and transformative peace agreement in the Middle East. Early steps taken by the special envoy and others suggested a real interest in constructing a viable approach to achieving that objective. But there is no way to accomplish that goal without a two-state solution.”

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