'Best way to achieve contiguous Palestinian state is negotiation between two parties,' State Department spokesman says

        Asked if the United States supported a Palestinian initiative to seek statehood recognition from the United Nations, a State Department spokesman said he was "not aware that they have come to us seeking our opinion, our approval." "We support the creation of a Palestinian state that is contiguous... the best way to achieve that is negotiation between two parties," said spokesman Ian Kelly. "We are convinced that has to be achieved through negotiations between two parties. We support a Palestinian state that arrives as a result of negotiations between two parties." On Sunday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said they would "go to the UN Security Council to ask for recognition of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital and with June 1967 borders."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Israel and the Palestinians to promptly revive the Middle East peace process or else risk an extremist backlash, in an interview published in Saudi daily Al-Riyad Tuesday."The priority is to restart as soon as possible the peace process," Sarkozy, who arrives in Saudi Arabia for a one-day visit later Tuesday, was quoted as saying. "It is urgent because the current deadlock is the hands of extremists and each day the chance of peace is slipping away a little," the French president said. "The deadlock in which we find ourselves today is extremely worrying." (08,19)