Jerusalem, Israel - US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has said an independent Palestinian state is no longer an American foreign policy goal.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Huckabee was asked whether a Palestinian state is still a policy goal of the US, to which he replied, "I don't think so."

"Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there's no room for it," the ambassador said.

Huckabee went on to say that if a Palestinian state were to be established, it would be elsewhere in the region – likely carved out of a "Muslim country" – rather than in the traditional homeland of the Palestinian people, which is under Israeli occupation.

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"Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria?" the 69-year-old Baptist minister asked, referring to Palestine by the term often used by the Israeli government and the settler movement.

Huckabee said in a separate BBC interview, "Muslim countries have 644 times the amount of land that are controlled by Israel."

"So maybe, if there is such a desire for the Palestinian state, there would be someone who would say, we'd like to host it."

Huckabee's comments came ahead of a conference at the UN in New York, sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, toward a two-state solution, which was also the official US line – in theory, if rarely in practice.

Paris has said it could recognize a Palestinian state this year, a possible move the former Arkansas governor has criticized.

"If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I've got a suggestion for them – carve out a piece of the French Riviera and create a Palestinian state. They are welcome to do that, but they are not welcome to impose that kind of pressure on a sovereign nation," he said in a Fox News interview published on May 31.

Huckabee has supported illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and has defended Israel as it wages what a growing number of scholars, UN experts, and human rights organizations have described as an ongoing genocide in Gaza.