US presidential candidates clash over Middle East peace process
US presidential candidates are offering substantive differences when it comes to Israel policy.
Two of the top Republican candidates for president favor recognizing West Bank settlements as part of Israel, a sharp break with decades of US policy that could either revive or bury the moribund Oslo peace process.
The hawkish stance is one of several controversial proposals floated during the 2016 race, which has moved far beyond the usual bipartisan boilerplate support for Israel. The debate underscores the increasingly polarized nature of US relations with Israel over the past few years, even if the follow-through from campaign rhetoric to presidential order remains an open question.
Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., this month were the first to co-sponsor legislation that would allow goods from the West Bank and Gaza to be labeled as “Made in Israel” in response to the Obama administration’s recent reaffirmation of long-standing US policy on the matter. The bill from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is the most transparent attempt to date to conflate settlements with Israel, an idea that has been gaining traction in Congress over the past year.
“[Cruz] considers Israel a sovereign nation,” his national security adviser, Victoria Coates, told Al-Monitor. “Obviously there are disputed territories in Israel — there are disputed territories in Morocco, and India, and China and lots of other places — but that doesn’t mean any element in the country is somehow not Israel.”
