BICOM

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday called for the immediate resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and opposed any unilateral efforts by the Palestinians to declare a state through the United Nations. Clinton, speaking in an interview on PBS, said that negotiations were the “only way” and are an “immediate need” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, despite all the other uprisings in the Middle East, it is in the “interest of both the Palestinians and the Israelis to get back to the hard work of peace talks.”

The US Secretary of State clarified that the US is opposed to and does not support unilateral efforts by the Palestinians in the United Nations to declare a state. “We think we can only achieve the two state solution that we strongly advocate through negotiations,” Clinton added. Meanwhile, PA President Mahmoud Abbas will arrive in Paris today to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Abbas is seeking to gain support from France in order to declare a Palestinian state later this year.