‘Never said that’: US has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally

B. Kalman:  While perhaps it never was “stated” US policy, the Biden State department certainly made clear to Israel they were going to push for a Palestinian State, whether or not Israel agreed. What Lew is doing now is damage control.  The Biden Administration is so unpopular, they are behaving as if they are “Conservatives Lite.”   The goal is to do and say anything they think will get Biden over the finish line.  They have backtracked on just about every progressive policy which has failed so completely and miserably that Biden’s poll numbers are at 33% who favor him.  That is lower than any President in US history.  Do not believe this administration, once voted in, they will go back to destroying the US and every other sovereign nation on earth.

“We have never said that was our policy,” Lew told the Conference of Presidents when quizzed about the matter on Sunday night.

By Tovah Lazaroff, JPOST                                                   19 February 2024

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew attends a Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem/Tzachi Kraus

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew dismissed reports about potential US unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, as he underscored that such a future state would be demilitarized.

“We have never said that was our policy,” Lew told the Conference of Presidents at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, when quizzed about the matter on Sunday night.

“Our policy is that there should be an over-the-horizon process” toward Palestinian statehood that involved Israel, said Lew, who took up his post in October and rarely makes public addresses.

Lew stresses ‘real possibility’ for Saudi peace deal

He advocated for the advancement of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia that would include a two-state option.

“Now is a moment in time where there is a real possibility that by engaging with normalization negotiations with Saudi Arabia and engaging in a process of of working to reform, revamp and revitalize the Palestinian Authority, that there could be a demilitarized Palestinian state that lives side by side” with Israel, Lew said.

“If the value of having normalization” with Saudi Arabia is as important as I think it is,” it will force a conversation in Israel about this, Lew said.