Palestine denounces US envoy’s remarks on Israeli rule over Middle East

By Aysar Alais

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Saturday said comments by the US ambassador to Israel suggesting acceptance of Israeli control over the entire Middle East amount to “an explicit call to violate the sovereignty of states.”

Speaking to journalist Tucker Carlson, Huckabee this week argued that Israel has a biblical right to the land stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates rivers, saying: "It would be fine if they took it all.”

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the remarks, saying they “contradict religious and historical facts and international law,” and also contradict statements by US President Donald Trump rejecting annexation of the occupied West Bank.

The ministry said the “provocative” comments represent “an explicit call to violate the sovereignty of states.”

The remarks, it added, provide support for Israel to continue a war of genocide and displacement and to pursue annexation and expansion plans against the Palestinian people – steps it said have been rejected by the international community, which considers the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory under international law.

The ministry called on the US to take a clear and explicit position on Huckabee’s statements and to reaffirm the positions announced by Trump regarding achieving peace in the Middle East, ending wars and violence, and rejecting Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

It said the comments “do not help achieve President Trump’s vision for lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Huckabee, named US ambassador to Israel last April, is an evangelical Christian who has previously spoken of expansionist claims based on what he described as a “divine right” for Israel in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told news channel i24 last August that he feels “very attached” to the vision of a “Greater Israel.” He said he considers himself “on a historic and spiritual mission” including “generations of Jews that dreamt of coming here and generations of Jews who will come after us.”

“Greater Israel” is a term used in Israeli politics to refer to the expansion of Israel’s territory to include the West Bank, Gaza, and Syria’s Golan Heights, with some interpretations also including Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and parts of Jordan.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul