US ‘discourages’ unilateral Israeli, Palestinian acts

NEW YORK — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated the Washington position on jump-starting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on Monday, saying the US “discourages actively” the two sides from taking unilateral steps that could harm the prospects for negotiations.

That position, Carney said, was the long-held stance of the Obama administration.

Carney was responding to a McClatchy press report on Friday, according to which “President Barack Obama raised the possibility of using the [2002] Arab Peace Initiative… as a framework for an agreement when he was in the region last month.”

The report quoted “a senior Palestinian official directly involved in the talks,” who said Obama asked the Palestinian leadership during his visit to Ramallah last month “not to take any unilateral steps in the UN, or moves that would anger Israel.” The official “added that it was his understanding that Israel had agreed not to announce any new settlement construction projects for eight weeks.”

“[Secretary of State John] Kerry asked for a quiet time to give the new diplomacy a chance,” the official said.

Carney would not confirm the details of the report Monday, but called the basic message “what the president has long said and what others have long said.”

Speaking for the Obama administration, Carney said, “We discourage actively both sides from taking unilateral action that makes it more difficult to come together to negotiate over the issues that divide them in a way that can bring them to peace.”

Carney said he could “absolutely confirm that the president repeated that message to both parties” during his visit: “that unilateral actions are not helpful to move toward peace. It’s a position the president reflected in his conversations. It’s counterproductive for either side, whether Palestinians through the UN or Israelis through settlement action,” to act unilaterally.

Kerry met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders Monday night as part of a renewed shuttle-diplomacy bid to attempt to restart long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Kerry is reportedly considering presenting an American bridging paper to draw the two sides back to the table, Israel’s Channel 10 reported on Monday night.