Israel seeks US block of Palestine statehood bid

  16 December 2014    Read: 1013
Israel seeks US block of Palestine statehood bid
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday sought assurances from US Secretary of State John Kerry that Washington would block efforts by Palestinians and Europeans on Palestinian statehood, according to Reuters news agency.
"Our expectation is that the United States will stand by its position for the past 47 years that a solution to the conflict will be achieved through negotiations, and I do not see a reason for this policy to change," Netanyahu told reporters after a meeting in Rome that lasted some three hours, Al Arabiya reported.

Netanyahu declined to comment on whether he was given an assurance by Kerry that the United States would exercise its veto.

A source with knowledge of the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Israeli leader had indeed asked for such an assurance.

Ahead of the meeting, Israel put the United States on notice that it expected Washington to exercise its UN Security Council veto against any resolutions setting a time frame.

Meanwhile, a senior State Department official said Washington had made clear in discussions that it would oppose certain moves.

"We’ve made clear throughout these discussions with all of our interlocutors that there are certain things we could never support. (I’m) not going to outline those publicly," the official said.

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