FRIEDMAN: FAILED PALESTINIAN STATE IS THE LAST THING THE WORLD NEEDS
2019-08-03
Originally Published at: The Jerusalem Post
During an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman explained why the Jewish state is more concerned with security now than ever before.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that “the last thing the world needs is a failed Palestinian state.”
Friedman explained that the reason the administration of US President Donald Trump is not using the term “two-state solution” is “ not because we’re trying to drive to a one-state solution,” but that Washington is unwilling to agree in advance to a Palestinian state, as that word “conjures up with it so many potential issues.”
He went on to say that right now, the Palestinian Authority is unable to deal with Hamas, leaving that to Israel to take care of.
The one thing that can’t happen, he explained, is that the Palestinians achieve a state, which is then overrun by ISIS and Hezbollah.
This is why the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin used the term "Palestinian Autonomy" and why the US also uses that term. Friedman said.
“We want the Palestinians to have autonomy,” he said. “We believe in Palestinian autonomy.”
He further explained that Israel’s ability to take chances decreased since the Oslo peace accords due to changing factors in the region, among them being the Syrian civil war and the threats posed to the Jewish state by Iran.