Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found.
Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position.
(Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by party; black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria.)
Chuck Baldwin, Founder and Minister of the Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL, issued the following statement through his Communications Director, Mary Starrett, in an Aug. 11, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
"The US should not be involved or determining negotiations between foreign governments or organizations. We must disengage this nation from the international entanglements which generate foreign hatred of these United States, and are used as the excuse for terrorist attacks on America and its people." Aug. 11, 2008 Chuck Baldwin
John McCain, US Senator (R-AZ), stated in a May 9, 2002 speech at the American Jewish Committee Annual Meeting:
"Palestinian statehood has significant international support, and it is an objective our President supports. But we will do the Palestinian people no favors if Palestinian statehood merely replaces the corrupt, strongman rule of the Palestinian Authority with the corrupt, strongman rule of another Arab dictatorship in Palestine. The Palestinian people deserve better than that. The international community must leverage the unique role it has played in the debate over Palestinian statehood to ensure that any Palestinian state that does emerge is accountable and representative, with power broadly based and with unified police and military forces that are accountable to an elected leader, who will in turn be accountable to the international community, whose financial support will sustain the Palestinian state." May 9, 2002 John McCain
Cynthia McKinney, former US House Representative (D-GA), issued the following statement through her Press Secretary, John Judge, in a Nov. 1, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
Barack Obama, US Senator (D-IL), in an article titled "Foreign Policy" on his official candidate website (accessed Feb. 22, 2008), stated:
"Obama will make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a key diplomatic priority. He will make a sustained push ? working with Israelis and Palestinians ? to achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security." Feb. 22, 2008 Barack Obama
INACTIVE CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear
below in black and white and in alphabetical order by party.)
Hillary Clinton, US Senator (D-NY), stated in a May 6, 1998 article titled "Hillary Clinton: Eventual Palestinian State Important for Mideast Peace" on the US Embassy, Tel Aviv website:
"I think that it will be in the long term interests of the Middle East for Palestine to be a state, and for it to be a state that is responsible for its citizens' well-being, a state that has responsibility for providing education and health care and economic opportunity to its citizens, a state that has to accept the responsibility of governing...I think that is very important for the Palestinian people, but I also think it is very important for the broader goal of peace in the Middle East." May 6, 1998 Hillary Clinton
Mike Gravel, former US Senator (D-AK), in a Nov. 2, 2006 article titled "Stepping Back from Imperialism: Redirecting American Foreign Policy" on his official candidate website, stated:
"The linchpin to long-term stability in the Middle East is the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. The US, along with its European and Asian allies, and regional players (to include Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan under the auspices of the United Nations) must sponsor direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including Hamas. The negotiations, with the goal of a two-state solution, must be scheduled as soon as possible." Nov. 2, 2006 Mike Gravel
Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, stated on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer on Nov. 25, 2007:
"[Wolf] Blitzer: ...[D]o you support what's called a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine side by side, as President Bush says he supports?
[Mike] Huckabee: Well, I would want to see where that side-by-side exists, Wolf, because if you do something that puts the Israelis in a position of ultimate vulnerability, that may not be a healthy solution.
You've got to realize that there are people in that region who have stated that their primary purpose is to annihilate Israel, to do away with them. And if you surround them by hostility and give them very little room in which to maneuver, you may not have created anything other than a very, very temporary peace, but for a long-term disaster.
Blitzer: So I guess you're not ready to endorse what is called a two-state solution yet?
Huckabee: Not until you see where those two states are going to be located and whether or not there is going to be some guarantee of security and concessions on the part of the nations that would surround Israel. And the Israelis would have to be comfortable with it, otherwise it's not going to be something that I think they could live with." Nov. 25, 2007 Mike Huckabee
ProCon.org emailed the Imperato campaign on Jan. 21, 2008 with this question. Mr. Imperato provided a response to this question and 26 others during a recorded 45-minute telephone interview with ProCon.org on Mar. 11, 2008. On Mar. 21, 2008 Mr. Imperato no longer met our eligibility criteria for inclusion on this site, and we stopped transcribing his verbal responses as of that date.
Alan Keyes, former Assistant US Secretary of State, stated in an Oct. 14, 2003 article titled "Ambassador Alan Keyes: Keynote Address" on the Jerusalum Summit website:
"Well, if we take that at face value, and we see it from the point of view from those who were doing the dancing, how would you then interpret the events of the couple of years since September 11 - the years when we have seen war, when we have seen, in point of fact, that in a formal way, a major shift occurred in the declared policy of the United States Government and that formal policy shifted in such a way as to accept as the legitimate basis for further progress - to formally accept - the idea of a Palestinian state on the West Bank, which had not been done before. I think one could seriously argue that that looks like a concession to terror." Oct. 14, 2003 Alan Keyes
Steve Kubby, a Libertarian candidate and founder of the American Medical Marijuana Association, stated in a Feb. 22, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
"I believe that the Palestinian Arabs should determine their own destiny. I'd like to see them do so in a way that puts them in peaceful co-existence with the Israeli people. Whether that means an independent state or not isn't our decision to make -- it's theirs. The object of US foreign policy should be 'friendship and commerce with all nations, entangling alliances with none.' We need to butt out of the Arab-Israeli conflict." Feb. 22, 2008 Steve Kubby
Frank McEnulty, President of Our Castle Homes, in a Feb. 28, 2008 email to ProCon.org, stated:
"Yes, as long as they fully recognize Israel's right to exist and they cease their constant attempts to kill Israelis and drive the Israelis from Israel. No country should be allowed to come into existence that has as one of its major underpinnings the desire to see another country destroyed." Feb. 28, 2008 Frank McEnulty
Ron Paul, US Representative (R-TX), stated in a Nov. 15, 2004 article titled "The Middle East Quaqmire" on his US Congress website:
"America can and should use every diplomatic means at our disposal to end the violence in the West Bank, but we should draw the line at any further entanglement. Third-party outsiders cannot impose political solutions in Palestine or anywhere else...
Respect for self-determination really is the cornerstone of a sensible foreign policy, yet many Americans who strongly support US sovereignty advocate interventionist policies that deny other nations that same right. The interventionist approach that has dominated American foreign policy since World War I has produced an unmitigated series of disasters." Nov. 15, 2004 Ron Paul
Christine Smith, a Libertarian candidate and a social and political activist, stated in a Feb. 27, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
"Yes...I am for the US government ceasing all interference in the conflict. Our nation's resources should be used for neither side of the conflict." Feb. 27, 2008 Christine Smith