Prominent Evangelical Leader: If There’s a 2-State Solution, Palestinian Sovereignty Should Be Limited
Mike Evans, a prominent Christian evangelical leader in the U.S., has some advice for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, if he wins the election Tuesday.
In a recent interview with The Jerusalem Post, Evans recommended that the GOP nominee “limit Palestinian sovereignty” in the event a “two-state solution” for Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank is agreed upon under his tenure. As the newspaper reported:
Evans said that any future Palestinian state should not be able to control its own airspace, have a standing army or enter into international treaties with other countries.
He and large parts of the evangelical movement in the U.S. are supporting Trump for president, but he believes Israel would nevertheless be in safe hands if Hillary Clinton should be elected president.
He also praised President Barack Obama’s military and strategic cooperation with Israel over his two terms in office.
In his recommendations for limiting Palestinian sovereignty in any final status agreement, Evans said, “It [a Palestinian state] cannot have traditional statehood, because a traditional state will be an existential threat to the state of Israel,” especially if it were able to form treaties with countries such as Iran.
“But it needs to be a state of stability, where there is no Hamas, and where it has security and police,” he added. “The state that Trump needs to address is a state of economic prosperity and stability.”
He also called for bringing in Jordan and the Arab League as “strategic partners” in guaranteeing the stability a Palestinian state.
Such restrictions, particularly regarding Palestinian demilitarization, have featured prominently in other proposals for ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict in the past. Evans added that he emphasized to Trump the importance of improving economic and social stability for the Palestinian population.
