"I believe there is a necessary imperative to continue to try to achieve a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians," Hillary Clinton said at a Brookings Institution forum on US-Israeli relations, as cited by the Washington Post.
The potential presidential candidate stressed that she considered the "two-state solution" an "essential concept" of peace negotiations, referring to the fact that the United States traditionally supported the idea of creating an independent Palestinian state.
"I am well aware of everything that is going on," Hillary Clinton underscored, meaning the Israeli settlements policy, Palestinian unrest and the US failure in brokering peace negotiations this year.
While Hillary Rodham Clinton claims that the US cannot afford to give up its active role in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Americans express their skepticism regarding US engagement in the Middle East. According to a recent survey conducted by the Brookings Institute and the research company GfK, the majority of Americans (64 percent) "do not lean toward Israel nor the Palestinians."
45 percent of American citizens believe the US should abstain from voting for a possible UN recognition of a Palestinian state, while only 27 percent want the White House to oppose it and 25 percent are in favor of recognition.
Remarkably, a growing number of Americans believe that the White House should promote the "one-state" concept with equal citizenship for Israelis and Arabs. The percentage of one-state proponents has risen from 24 percent to 34 percent. Among those who support the two-state model, two-thirds are inclined to support one state if creating of independent Palestine is impossible, the survey indicates.
However, about six in ten Americans still consider the Israeli Palestinian conflict "one of the top five issues" for the United State's national interests.
