Huckabee visits West Bank: 'Build Israel Great Again'

Maale Adumim, West Bank (CNN)Standing in front of a bright red banner reading "Build Israel Great Again," former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee promised Tuesday during an appearance in the West Bank that President-elect Donald Trump's policies toward Israel would be very different than President Barack Obama's.

Huckabee was in Maale Adumim to lay the cornerstone for a new neighborhood in one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank, just east of Jerusalem. The former Arkansas governor and strong supporter of Israel held a hat with the same catchphrase, and said he would bring one to Trump, whose campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" was the inspiration for the Maale Adumim banner.

Huckabee told CNN that he rejected the use of the word "settlements."

"I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria," said Huckabee, using the Biblical terms for the West Bank. "There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It's Judea and Samaria. There's no such thing as a settlement. They're communities, they're neighborhoods, they're cities. There's no such thing as an occupation."

Settlements have surged back onto the international agenda following the recent United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as having "no legal validity" and being "a flagrant violation under international law."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/politics/huckabee-west-bank-settlements/index.html