On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) stated that while he supports a two-state solution with a Palestinian state, “You can’t just declare it because that doesn’t make it be.” And saying that a Palestinian state should exist is “the easy part. The hard part is the negotiations to get there and who is to negotiate it. And so, for me, in my viewpoint, we also need to have a Palestinian voice. That cannot be Hamas. And it does not seem that, at this juncture, that the Palestinian Authority has the authority of the Palestinians to be the one that’s there.”
Meeks said, “I think that what the world is calling for is an end to the war in Gaza, because they see, every day, the number of individuals, women, children, men, reporters being killed, buildings and people running around and see the humanitarian disaster that has evolved there, folks can’t get food. So, I think what you hear is the world is saying, and even the people in Israel, let’s end the war in Gaza, let’s return all of the hostages, and then we begin to focus on what takes place next. And I’ve been a firm supporter of a two-state solution. I think that’s the only way that you have some real peace in the Middle East. The question is, how and what’s the appropriate way to get there? And there [have] to be some negotiations. You can’t just declare it because that doesn’t make it be. There [have] to be some negotiations that take place to get there, and I think that’s what’s important.”
Host Erica Hill then asked, “Is the recognition of Palestinian statehood the first step to those negotiations, in your view?”
Meeks answered, “In my view, saying that we need to have — you can’t take the fact of having a Palestinian state away. We need to have it. I think that’s the goal. And I think everyone should be saying that there should be a Palestinian state. That’s the easy part. The hard part is the negotiations to get there and who is to negotiate it. And so, for me, in my viewpoint, we also need to have a Palestinian voice. That cannot be Hamas. And it does not seem that, at this juncture, that the Palestinian Authority has the authority of the Palestinians to be the one that’s there. So, part of what my plea is, to some of those nations that, I believe, want to see a two-state solution, is to come to a solution or come to someone who could be at the table.”
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