U.S. official: Obama administration backs two-state solution of Gaza conflicts

Source: Xinhua | 02-04-2009 15:49

AMMAN, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Ambassador in Jordan Robert Beecroft reaffirmed Tuesday the two-state solution as the only way to solve Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Wednesday.

Beecroft told a meeting of Jordanian press that as the previous administration, Obama supports the two-state solution, which should see a Palestinian and an Israeli state living side by side.

He noted that there is no official American support for the three-state option mentioned by former U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton and other proposals such as putting the West Bank under Jordan's control and the Gaza Strip under Egypt's.

"Bolton is not part of the government. He does not speak for the government. The position of the U.S. is very clear. The policy of the U.S. is a two-state solution: Israeli and Palestinian states (that live) side by side."

"That is the end of the issue. There is no official support for anything other than the two-state solution," Beecroft said.

The ambassador stressed that the new U.S. administration has given urgency to tackling the Arab-Israeli conflict on the basis of a two-state solution.

This urgency might lead to the opening of a regional office for George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, who was dispatched to tour the region by U.S. President Barack Obama just a week after he took office, Beecroft speculated.

Mitchell recently made a "listening" tour to the Middle East and Europe. He is expected to return to Mid-east before the end of this month in a bid to revive the stalled peace process.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei