More than half of House Democrats slam any Israeli-Palestinian plan that does not include 2 states

Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) — More than half of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives say a peace plan that does not expressly have as its outcome two states would endanger the prospects of peace.

The resolution, a dig at the Trump administration’s peace policies, was backed by J Street, the liberal Middle East policy group. It says not mentioning two states in a deal would “put a peaceful end to the conflict further out of reach.”

The non-binding resolution, which so far has garnered 123 co-sponsors out of 235 in the Democratic caucus, alludes to the as-yet- unveiled peace plan drafted by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. Kushner has not counted out Palestinian statehood as an outcome, but he also says that the phrase is not a useful one.

The resolution, introduced last month by Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., who is Jewish, calls for “a two-state solution that is consistent with the broadly held consensus positions for resolving the conflict’s final status issues as reflected in previous United States proposals.”