A radical Mideast proposal: What if the U.S. recognized a Palestinian state now?
The formula for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long called for negotiating a Palestinian state. What if that were reversed and a state were declared first and then negotiated later?
When Israel declared statehood in 1948, U.S. President Harry Truman gave his endorsement just 11 minutes later, making the United States the first country to recognize Israel as a nation.
"But don't think that decision to recognize Israel was an easy one," Truman said in a video filmed after he left the White House. "What I was trying to do was to find a homeland for the Jews and still be just with the Arabs."
There were lots of unanswered questions at the time. Israel didn't have fixed borders. The new
