The new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday the United States would look to resume aid to the Palestinians as he voiced hope for reviving a multilateral approach to the world under President-elect Joe Biden.
In an interview with AFP, Representative Gregory Meeks said he would look to expand humanitarian aid including to the Palestinians after the Trump administration cut off nearly all funding to them, including contributions to feed and educate refugees.
"I'm a firm believer in the two-state solution, providing both parties with self-determination, because that's the only way I believe that we can ensure a Jewish state of Israel that is viable and a peaceful Palestinian state, where they end up becoming interdependent in trade and other mechanisms," Meeks said.
"So we may need to restart the US assistance to Palestinian people, demonstrating that the United States is ready to lead again," he said.
Meeks played down the prospect of leveraging aid to Israel to pressure it to accept a Palestinian state, saying he did not want to touch a $38 billion, decade-spanning defense package approved by former president Barack Obama in 2016 before leaving office.
"I'm not for altering any of those dollars," Meeks said. "There may be other dollars not included therein that we can possibly look at."
The New York congressman, who is the first African-American to lead the committee, won the chairmanship in a contest against Representative Joaquin Castro, who had vowed to champion the voices of Palestinians amid rising criticism in the Democratic Party of Israel's rightward turn.
Meeks succeeded Eliot Engel, a passionate defender of Israel, who lost his seat in a primary challenge from his left.
