WASHINGTON - State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Thursday that a United Nations draft resolution that would call on Israel to immediately and completely cease settlement activities is “unhelpful,” adding that the administration doesn't “view the UN as the most practical or useful forum for discussing this issue.”
During the State Department’s daily briefing, Patel said that the US remains “focused on supporting the conditions necessary to advance the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians.”
The administration's belief, he said, was that this is “the only path to a sustainable end to the conflict, and we continue to engage with all parties on this.”
“The introduction of this resolution is unhelpful in supporting the conditions necessary to advance negotiations for a two-state solution,” said Patel. “We are aware of the introduction, and we’re coordinating closely with our partners in New York on next steps.”
State Dept. stops short of confirming US is prepared to veto resolution
Asked if it meant that the US is ready to veto the resolution, Patel replied that he didn’t want to get ahead of the process. “We are coordinating closely with our partners in New York and are assessing our next steps,” he said. “But when I say that it is unhelpful, we have been clear as it relates to both the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
The State Department Building is pictured in Washington, US, January 26, 2017. (credit: REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS/FILE PHOTO)“Our viewpoint has always been that both sides should avoid taking steps that puts us further away from a two-state solution and further incites tensions, which these are the kinds of actions that do that.”
Vedant Patel, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson
“Our view is that the introduction of this resolution was unhelpful in supporting the conditions necessary to advance negotiations of a two‑state solution, just like we believe that the news out of Israel on Sunday was unhelpful and something that would further incite tensions as well,” he continued. “And our viewpoint has always been that both sides should avoid taking steps that [sic] puts us further away from a two-state solution and further incites tensions, which these are the kinds of actions that do that.”
Patel also said that the administration doesn't “view the UN as the most practical or useful forum for discussing this issue, and that this is something that the two sides need to discuss and engage and negotiate and work on among themselves and that steps like settlement activity, steps like the introduction of such a resolution are unhelpful and put us further away from a negotiated two-state solution, which has been our consistent viewpoint in where we would like this to end.”
