US must act on Palestinian statehood before it's too late, former PM says

Former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad sees window of opportunity closing - perhaps forever - if Trump is elected

Salam Fayyad speaks at the Aspen Security Forum on July 18. Photo: Aspen Security Forum

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US President Joe Biden's administration must move quickly to ensure Palestinians are guaranteed their right to a sovereign state, or Donald Trump could end the possibility forever, former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, Mr Fayyad said the US should push for a resolution at the UN Security Council that would protect the Palestinians' right to a future state.

“The US really has a moral obligation to do something, but particularly against the backdrop of something that could foreclose forever the possibility of a Palestinian state emerging on the territory occupied in 1967,” he said.

Mr Fayyad, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority from 2007-2013, said pushing for a Palestinian state would be the best thing Washington can do to protect its own objectives for the region and to make new progress in expanding the Abraham Accords.

“Today, tomorrow, the day after, but certainly [under] the President of the current administration,” he said.

Mr Trump is widely favoured to beat Mr Biden in the November 5 election, assuming the President has not dropped out of the race by then due to concerns about his health and mental acuity.

A future Trump administration would probably treat the Palestinian cause harshly.

Mr Trump's running mate, JD Vance, has said Washington should let Israel prosecute the war in Gaza in “the way they see fit”.

Mr Trump in 2020 put forward a Middle East plan that strongly favoured Israel and scrapped the goal of Palestinians eventually getting a sovereign state.

Speaking immediately after Mr Fayyad, Amos Yadlin, Israel's former head of military intelligence, was asked why the Israeli air force has inflicted so many civilian casualties in a conflict that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed nearly 39,000 people.

Mr Yadlin said the blame likes squarely at the feet of Hamas and its military leader, Yahya Sinwar, for operating in civilian areas.

“Sinwar is to blame and I'm not going to take any of the blame on the Israeli military,” he said.

Israel's parliament on Wednesday night passed a resolution rejecting a two-state solution and declaring the establishment of a Palestinian state “an existential danger to the state of Israel”.

The Knesset motion, which has no legal weight, was passed with 68 votes in favour and nine against.