Overview

• Mike Huckabee told Bloomberg News he no longer believes an independent Palestinian state remains a US policy goal and questioned whether it must be located in the West Bank.
• He suggested that Palestinians could instead establish statehood on land offered by other Muslim-majority countries, citing their vastly larger territory.
• State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce emphasized Huckabee was expressing personal views and not speaking for official US policy.
• Scholars and advocacy groups condemned the comments as an explicit abandonment of the two-state solution and a threat to Palestinian political rights.
• Hours after the interview, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Addameer and five other NGOs over alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.