US official: Israeli, Palestinian leaders destroying two-state solution

Prospects of a peace deal are disappearing, Washington warns, as Quartet issues report with recommendations for progress

WASHINGTON — If rival Israeli and Palestinian leaders continue on their current course, they will destroy all hope of a peace deal based on two states, a senior US official warned Friday.

The State Department official was speaking as the Middle East Quartet — the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations — released its latest report.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a document arrived at by consensus among the Quartet members, the US official said it marked a chance to change course.

“Although leaders on both sides profess support for the two-state solution, if they continue on the current course, this prospect will be increasingly remote,” he said.

“We really are concerned that if there aren’t significant changes, it will risk entrenching the one-state reality, and that will not be to the benefit of either side.”

The eight-page report warns that ongoing Palestinian violence against Israelis and Israel’s land grab in the West Bank are pushing back hopes for peace.

Washington does not believe the time is right for new talks between the two sides, but instead wants them to take independent steps to make two states a plausible outcome.

“The main point of this report and the thing we’re focusing on is where we go from here,” the official said.

“Our main objective is not to assign blame. It’s really to provide a way forward towards the goal that everybody says they share … a negotiated two-state solution.”

The Quartet report recommend that both Israeli and Palestinian leaders tone down their rhetoric and avoid inciting or condoning violence.

It calls on Palestinians to clearly condemn all acts of terrorism and work to counter extremism.

And it urges Israel to stop building settlements, seizing land and denying Palestinians access to “Area C” — which represents 60 percent of the West Bank.

“We can’t just continue on the path we’re following,” the senior State Department official said.

“We really want to stress that important progress can be made now towards advancing a two-state reality on the ground.”