Two-state solution: Palestinian official warns White House about backing away

A member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee is warning that if the White House decides to not pursue a two-solution between Israel and the Palestinians, then it would doom chances for Middle East peace.

“If the Trump Administration rejects this policy it would be destroying the chances for peace and undermining American interests, standing and credibility abroad,” Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.

Ashrawi, who was the spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation to the 1991 Madrid peace conference, argued in her statement that a one-state solution “would require equal rights and citizenship for all, unless [President Trump] is advocating an apartheid state.” She added that perpetual occupation of the Palestinians by the Israelis would “only generate greater extremism and violence within the region and beyond.”

“The two-state solution is a longstanding policy of the US and has global consensus as a basic requirement for peace,” she said. “Accommodating the most extreme and irresponsible elements in Israel and in the White House is no way to make responsible foreign policy.”

Her comments come after a senior White House official told reporters on the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House that the administration might not pursue a two-state solution as part of its efforts to facilitate a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. It was a particularly odd comment to make even before Netanyahu sits down for meetings with Mr. Trump.

Netanyahu’s visit will be critical for reinvigorating the U.S.-Israel relationship, which experienced some low points under President Obama including in December when the Obama administration abstained during a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution that demanded an end to Israeli settlement construction.

Following that move, in a speech at the State Department that month, Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the two-state solution was “in jeopardy” and stressed that “there is still a way forward if the responsible parties are willing to act.”