House Democrats slam Trump’s Mideast peace plan

‘It makes a genuine two-state solution impossible.’ 100 congressional Democrats sign letter protesting President Trump’s Mideast peace plan.

House Democrats slammed President Donald Trump’s recently released Middle East peace plan, signing on to a letter protesting both the content and timing of the plan, warning that it would doom the two-state solution.

Roughly 100 congressional Democrats have signed on to the letter, the Jewish Insider reported, which was drafted by congressmen Alan Lowenthal of California and Andy Levin of Michigan

The signatories include Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

The letter slams the Trump peace plan for allowing Israel to apply sovereignty to roughly 30% of Judea and Samaria, and to retain all Israeli towns in the area.

The signatories claimed that given the conditions included in the plan, and the support for Israeli sovereignty in large parts of Judea and Samaria, the Palestinian state envisioned by the peace plan actually “does not constitute statehood”, and would in fact make a “genuine two-state solution impossible”.

“A U.S. proposal that promotes unilateral annexation and jettisons a real two-state solution is bad for Israel, for the shared values that have historically undergirded the U.S.-Israel relationship, and for the bipartisan consensus in the U.S. on the importance of that relationship, which Israel has long understood to be a crucial strategic asset.”

In the letter, House Democrats also objected to the timing of the plan’s release, calling it “inappropriate intervention in a foreign election”, citing the upcoming Israeli Knesset election.

“Coming just over a month before Israel’s third election in a year – against the backdrop of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictments – releasing the plan now appears to be an inappropriate intervention in a foreign election.”

Last December, Rep. Lowenthal drafted a House resolution which affirmed US support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict.

The measure was passed by the House by a margin of 226 to 188.

The resolution condemned “unilateral annexation of territory”, and called on the Trump administration to discourage any such steps by Israel.

 

body.LangEn .audio-player .btnplay{right: 5%;left:unset;} body.LangEn .audio-player .time{right: 5%;left:unset;}