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 administrations - "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 roadmap for an eventual Palestinian state.

Although Huckabee did not say where any future Palestinian state could be located specifically or whether the US would support 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?" he said on the BBC's Newshour programme.

"I think that's a question that ought to be posed to everybody who's pushing for a two-state solution."

Asked if the US position was that there could not be a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Huckabee said: "I wouldn't say there can never be, what I would say is that a culture would have to change.

"Right now the culture is that it's OK to target Jews and kill them and you're rewarded for it. That has to change."

Israel rejects a two-state solution. It says any final settlement must be the result of negotiations with the Palestinians, and statehood should not be a condition.

Huckabee has previously been a strong supporter of the idea of a "greater Israel", seeking permanent Israeli control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and using the biblical term "Judea and Samaria" for the West Bank.

Some of his language echoes positions frequently taken by ultranationalist groups in Israel. Some in this movement, including far-right ministers in the Israeli governing coalition, have argued for the expulsion of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza, saying any future Palestinian state could exist in Arab or Muslim countries.

If such a policy were enacted, rights groups and European governments say it would be a clear violation of international law.

The ambassador also reacted to the sanctioning of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which was part of a joint move announced by the UK, Norway, Australia, Canada and New Zealand on Tuesday.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the Israeli ministers had "incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights". The men were banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the UK frozen.

Israel registered strong objections to the move, and Huckabee called it a "shocking decision".

"I have not yet heard a good reason for why these two elected ministers have been sanctioned by countries that ought to respect the country's sovereignty and recognise that they have not conducted any criminal activity," he said.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 251 others hostage.

There are 56 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

Since October 2023, at least 54,927 Palestinians have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run ministry of health. The UN estimates that more than a quarter of them are children.