Ross Reiterates U.S. Opposition to Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State

David Streeter — April 5, 2011 – 10:37 am | Foreign Policy | Israel Comments (0) Add a comment

During his appearance at the Anti-Defamation League’s national conference, Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region Dennis Ross reiterated the Obama Administration’s opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s purported plans to unilaterally declare a state at the United Nations. According to The Jerusalem Post:

The US is firmly opposed to Palestinians pursuing a unilateral declaration of statehood through the UN, the top White House Middle East adviser said Monday.

‘We have consistently made it clear that the way to produce a Palestinian state is through negotiations, not through unilateral declarations, not through going to the UN,’ Dennis Ross told the Anti-Defamation League’s annual leadership conference. ‘Our position on that has been consistent in opposition.’

As expectations increase that the Palestinians will seek a UN resolution on the issue this September, Ross disparaged the idea as unhelpful not only to the overall diplomatic environment, but to advancing the Palestinians’ own goals. ‘This doesn’t make it more likely that there’ll be a Palestinian state,’ he said.

Instead Ross reiterated the need for Palestinians and Israelis to engage directly, particularly given the regime-toppling occurring in the region. He said that young and emerging leaderships needed to see that Israel could make peace with the Palestinians and that negotiations were a course for achieving results.

Highlights from Ross’ prepared remarks can be viewed here.

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