'UN vote won't create Palestinian state'

Obama speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) annual gathering

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/181202.html

US President Barack Obama insists he would stand against any UN effort to create an independent Palestinian state, reaffirming Washington's commitment to Israel's security.

"No vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state," Xinhua news agency quoted Obama as saying at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) annual gathering on Sunday.

He went on to reaffirm Washington's "ironclad" commitment to Israel's security and emphasized that "The US will stand up against efforts to single Israel out at the UN or in any international forum, because Israel's legitimacy is not a matter for debate."

Barely two days after the Israeli prime minister criticized his Middle East speech, the US president also pledged to sustain Israel's military superiority over its neighbors.

"We (the US) will maintain Israel's qualitative military edge," Obama noted. "We have increased military financing to record levels."

The US president renewed his administration's commitment to "Israel's security as the homeland for the Jewish people" and said the US supported a two-state solution with "mutually-agreed swaps."

Obama had earlier said that any solution would require Israel to go back to the borders drawn before the 1967 war.

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a White House appearance with Obama to bluntly reject any notion of Israel even considering a withdrawal from territories it seized in 1967.

Netanyahu told Obama at a White House summit on Friday that the 1967 borders were "indefensible."

Following the criticism from Netanyahu; however, Obama said that by that statement he meant Israel and Palestine would negotiate a border "that is different than 1967."