Washington: The United States and its allies have stepped up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw its “unilateral” actions in West Bank. In a joint statement today, the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States today “strongly” opposed the “unilateral” actions of Israel to advance nearly 10,000 settlement units and its intention to begin a process to normalize nine outposts in West Bank that were previously deemed illegal under Israeli law.
“We strongly oppose these unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution,” the joint statement said.
“We reaffirm our commitment to helping Israelis and Palestinians fulfil the vision of an Israel fully integrated into the Middle East living alongside a sovereign, viable Palestinian state. We continue to closely monitor developments on the ground which impact the viability of the two-state solution and stability in the region at large,” it added.
Also read: US troubled by Israel’s move to legalise nine outposts in West Bank
The foreign ministers stated they continue to support a “comprehensive, just, and lasting” peace in the Middle East, which must be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties. “Israelis and Palestinians both deserve to live in peace, with equal measures of freedom, security, and prosperity,” they stated.
Ned Price, US State Department Spokesperson, said in a press briefing here, that the US opposes Israel’s moves since they drifted from the vision of a two-state solution, which has been the guiding principle of successive American administrations.
“Our position is that we’re deeply troubled, we’re concerned, we oppose these moves…,” he stressed.
Terming Israel’s moves to be entirely inconsistent with what Israel is, Price emphasised that it was “entirely inconsistent with Israel’s identity, its identity as a Jewish state but also a democracy, a democratic Jewish state”.
He disclosed that the US was having intensive discussions with the parties including Israel. “We’re registering our deep concern over what we heard within recent hours. We’re engaging with the Palestinians. We’re engaging with other regional partners as well,” Price said.
Reiterating its commitment to the two-state solution, Washington feels that it was in a position to restart the relationship with both the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people essentially from scratch. “That was an early priority of ours. We resumed those relationships and we’ve resumed humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. Over the past two years now, we’ve contributed more than $900 million to the Palestinian people as part of an effort to improve their well-being in very practical ways,” Price said, and asserted that “we are going to continue to use our voice. We are going to continue to engage with the parties. We are going to continue to engage in diplomacy bilaterally, and multilaterally, to take steps that, one, would seek to – would serve to de-escalate tensions; but two, over the longer term, to protect and ultimately advance the prospect of that two-state solution.”
It may be mentioned that Israel is among the closest partners of the United States since 1948 when Israel declared itself independent. The US today reaffirmed that part of that relationship was a rock-solid commitment to Israel’s security.
Price referred to the threats that Israel faces today – “We have seen examples of that, just horrific examples of that in recent days alone”. He asserted that the US would continue to stand by Israel’s side when it comes to the security threats that it faces, “even as we use our voice and we coordinate with other parties and partners in the region to oppose these sorts of steps that actually undermine the prospect for that very two-state solution”.
At the same time, the US called on all parties to avoid additional actions that can further escalate tensions in the region and to take practical steps that can improve the well-being of the Palestinian people.
“We have made our opinion, our very strong opinion on this, very clear. A number of other countries, including countries in the region, countries well beyond the region, have made their opinions on this clear as well, and I expect that will continue,” Price said.
– global bihari bureau
