U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated on Tuesday her country's position that the Palestinian Authority's unilateral statehood bid is a mistake.
In a press conference in which she confirmed that envoys David Hale and Dennis Ross would be returning to the region, Clinton said that the path to a two-state solution creating a Palestinian state runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not through New York.
The Associated Press quoted Clinton as having said Hale and Ross' trip to the Middle East is to try "to create a sustainable platform for negotiations that can produce the two-state outcome that we seek."
She told reporters, "Our hope is we get the parties back into a frame of mind and into a process where they actually begin negotiating again."
"We need an environment that is conducive to direct negotiations," Clinton added. "We all know that no matter what happens or doesn't happen at the UN, the next day is not going to result in the kind of changes that the United States wishes to see that would move us toward a two-state solution that we strongly support. The only way of getting a lasting solution is through direct negotiations between the parties and the route to that lies in Jerusalem and Ramallah, not in New York."
She added that the issue "is not simply that action in New York will not bring peace and stability, but it will create more distractions toward achieving that goal."
On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama said that the PA's statehood bid is a "distraction" that will not result in viable statehood.
Obama reiterated that the U.S. would veto the statehood bid at the UN Security Council, saying, "I have said very publicly that if this were to come to the Security Council we would object very strongly."
The U.S. has tried working all diplomatic channels, overt and back channel, to avert the official move by the PA launching its campaign for recognition as a new country and membership in the international body. The efforts have been ignored and criticized by the PA.
