Robert O’Brien, seen in Stockholm in August 2019, said anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere is encouraging more Jews to return to Israel. (Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
(JTA) — The U.S. national security adviser said the Trump administration’s peace plan “could be the last opportunity for a two-state solution” because growing anti-Semitism around the world will bring more Jews to Israel and the West Bank.
Robert O’Brien made the remarks during a speech and discussion Wednesday with foreign diplomats to the United States, The Associated Press reported.
“This could be the last opportunity for a two-state solution,” O’Brien said at the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C. “The Israeli birthrate is strong and is growing because sadly anti-Semitism in Europe and other places around the world is encouraging more Jews to return to Israel. The settlements are going to continue to expand. If this freeze on settlements doesn’t hold, if this peace process doesn’t work, it may be physically impossible to have a two-state solution.”
O’Brien acknowledged that the plan in not “perfect” but that the economic benefits offered for acceptance would make a State of Palestine the “Singapore of the Middle East,” according to the report.
The Palestinians have rejected the long-anticipated U.S. plan unveiled last week, and the Arab League voted unanimously to reject the proposal.
The plan would create a demilitarized Palestinian state on considerably less West Bank land than the Palestinians claim and allow Israel to annex all of the West Bank Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley, which Israel considers a security necessity.
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