WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration does not support a draft Palestinian statehood resolution submitted to the U.N. Security Council.
“In terms of the specifics of this, in its current form, we cannot support it,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at Thursday’s daily briefing for journalists.
A draft Security Council resolution submitted by Jordan and leaked to Haaretz and other media calls for a Dec. 31, 2017 deadline for an Israeli withdrawal to “borders based on 1967 lines” with land swaps.
“We wouldn’t support any action that would prejudge the outcome of the negotiations and that would set a specific deadline for the withdrawal of forces,” Psaki said.
She did not count out a statehood-related resolution per se, saying the United States wanted “further consultations.”
Psaki noted that the Palestinians “are not pushing for a vote right now” and are also open to consultations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Hamas, the terrorist organization now controlling the Gaza Strip, would soon rule a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
Separately, Psaki encouraged the European Union to return Hamas to a list of designated terrorist groups.
“We believe that the EU should maintain its terrorism sanctions on Hamas,” she said at the Wednesday briefing.
A European court said the 2001 designation was underpinned by faulty evidence, but effectively maintained the sanctions to give European authorities time to reinstate the ban.
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