Huckabee, who has been a strong defender of Israel throughout his career, made the statement during his 2008 presidential campaign, asserting that Palestinian identity was “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
Well, of course it is. The land of Palestine is as it has been since much of it was occupied by the Philistines in the 12 century B.C. Beyond, "Jews, Muslims and Christians have all claimed special connections to the region" and the Old Testament "contains narratives of ancient Israelites' presence in the land."
Skip to 1918, when in the wake of World War I the League of Nations isued a British mandate for Palestine, to go into effect in 1923. That lasted until 1947, when the United Nations" proposed a plan to partition Palestine into two sections: an independent Jewish state and an independent Arab state."
Great Britain withdrew from the region- Palestine- and in 1948, the State of Israel was declared. This did not amuse Muslims, and five countries attacked Israel. This proved unwise as "by the war's end in July 1949, Israel controlled more than two-thirds of the former British Mandate, while Jordan took control of the West Bank and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip."
Yet over the past few decades, Jews of the region have been transformed- for political purposes, as Huckabee recognizes- into non-Palestinians while other Muslims in the ancient land of Palestine and beyond have been granted psychic status as "Palestinian." So
In a video obtained by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski during Huckabee’s 2015 run for president, Huckabee suggested that if a Palestinian state were to be created, it should be in neighboring countries like Egypt, Syria or Jordan, rather than within Israel’s borders.
“Basically, there really is no such thing as — I need to be careful about saying this, because people will really get upset — there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” Huckabee said at a 2008 campaign stop in Massachusetts while speaking to two Orthodox Jewish men. “There’s not.”
In response to a question from one of the men about the possibility of a Palestinian state existing outside of Israel, Huckabee said he believed this was the preferable option.
“You have Arabs and Persians,” Huckabee continued at the 2008 appearance. “And there’s such complexity in that. But there’s really no such thing. That’s been a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
Political tool, indeed. In questioning Israel's policies, journalists, pundits, politicians, and even academics refer to "Palestinians" indiscriminately and unquestioningly, without clarifying who these Palestinians are. While Israel is said to be conducting a war against "Palestinians," Palestinians reside throughout the Middle East, including in the countries (Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) cited by Huckabee. In all, these three countries encompass 492,893 square miles while Israel's land mass is only 1.7% as large.
Yet, we are to believe a Palestinian state must come from land controlled by Israel. Thus
In the video, which was previously published by BuzzFeed, Huckabee added that he thought a Palestinian state could be made out of land in Egypt, Syria or Jordan.
“My point is, if that’s the issue, if it’s real estate, if you look at a map, and say here is how much Israel has and here is how much the Arab states hold, there is plenty of land,” he said.
Huckabee reiterated that point during a 2015 interview on Israeli TV, in which he argued that a two-state solution was “irrational and unworkable” and said “there’s plenty of land” outside of Israel in the “rest of the world” for a Palestinian state.
CNN reached out to Huckabee and the Trump transition team for comment on whether Huckabee stands by his comments.
Unless the situation in the Middle East changes radically, no Palestinian state will come from real estate in Egypt, Sytia or Jordan, especially because no nation wantts any more Palestinians even adjacent to theirs. Jordan deserves to catch a break because Palestinians already comprise half the population of the country, packed into only 34,296 square miles.
That leaves Syria and Egypt. A Palestinian state may be all the more necessary because neither these two nations, nor any in the region (given the ruling coalition in Israel), wants to be part of the solution.
Arguably, there is such a thing as a "Palestinian." Inarguably, the term has become popularized for strategic advantage. It's a good thing that President-elect Donald Trump won't be nominating Mike Huckabee for ambassador to any majority-Muslim nation in the Middle East. However, his appointment will be to Jerusalem and unless somebody comes up with something other than a video in which he is making sense, Mike Huckabee is being sent where he belongs.
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