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Washington: Nearly All Senate Democrats back Two-state Solution for Israel, Palestinians

The US Capitol building (File photo/EPA)
The US Capitol building (File photo/EPA)
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Washington: Nearly All Senate Democrats back Two-state Solution for Israel, Palestinians

The US Capitol building (File photo/EPA)
The US Capitol building (File photo/EPA)

An overwhelming majority of President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday backed a statement reiterating US support of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Forty-nine of the 51 members of the Senate Democratic caucus backed an amendment supporting a negotiated solution to the conflict that results in Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side, ensuring Israel's survival as a secure, democratic, Jewish state and fulfilling the Palestinians' "legitimate aspirations" for a state of their own.

Senator Brian Schatz introduced the measure as an amendment to an upcoming bill that would provide national security aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

"What will determine the future of Israel and Palestine is whether or not there's hope. And the two-state solution has to be that hope," Schatz told a news conference, Reuters reported.

With war raging in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference this month that he objected to any Palestinian statehood that did not guarantee Israel's security.

The statement provoked international concern, including from Israel's biggest backer the United States. Washington maintains that the two-state solution is the only feasible way to bring lasting peace to the region.

The only two Democratic senators who did not sign onto the amendment were John Fetterman and Joe Manchin.

Fetterman has long supported a two-state solution, but he believed the measure should include language stipulating the destruction of Hamas as a precondition to peace, an aide said.

Manchin's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Many of Biden's fellow Democrats in Congress have been pushing the administration to do more to address the steep toll on Palestinian civilians of Israel's campaign against Hamas since the militant group's deadly assault on Oct. 7.

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Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
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Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)

One of the Nordic region's largest investors has sold its holdings in Palantir Technologies because of concerns that the US data firm's work for Israel might put the asset manager at risk of violating international humanitarian law and human rights.

Storebrand Asset Management disclosed this week that it had "excluded Palantir Technologies Inc. from our investments due (to) its sales of products and services to Israel for use in occupied Palestinian territories."

The investor, which manages about 1 trillion crowns ($91.53 billion) in assets, held around 262 million crowns ($24 million) in Palantir, a spokesperson told Reuters. A representative for Palantir, based in Denver, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Storebrand said Palantir had not replied to any of its requests for information, first lodged in April. The data analytics firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, provides militaries with artificial-intelligence models. Earlier this year, it agreed to a strategic partnership to supply technology to Israel to assist in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Palantir has previously defended its work for Israel. CEO Alex Karp said he was proud to have worked with the country following the Hamas attacks in October last year and in March told CNBC that Palantir had lost employees and that he expected to lose more over his public support for Israel.

Storebrand's exit follows a recommendation from Norway's government in March warning businesses about engaging in economic or financial activity in the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, the asset manager said in its third-quarter investment review published on Wednesday. The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest court, said in July that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories including the settlements was illegal.

Israel's foreign ministry rejected that opinion as "fundamentally wrong" and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can be reached only by negotiations.

Storebrand said its analysis indicated that Palantir provides products and services "including AI-based predictive policing systems" that support Israeli surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palantir's systems are supposed "to identify individuals who are likely to launch 'lone wolf terrorist' attacks, facilitating their arrests preemptively before the strikes that it is projected they would carry out," Storebrand said.

It added that, according to the United Nations, Israeli authorities have a history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. A UN Special Rapporteur said in a 2023 report that "the occupied Palestinian territory had been transformed as a whole into a constantly surveilled open-air prison."

Israel rejected the UN's findings. In September Reuters reported that Norway's $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest shares of companies that violate the fund watchdog's tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.