US Permanent Representative says it is important that Security Council avoid action that could harm ceasefire or prospects for further Cairo talks – SC President press conference (excerpts)

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ON WORK PROGRAMME FOR SEPTEMBER

Setting out a Security Council work programme that covers a range of global crises, Ambassador Samantha Power of the United States, the body’s President for September, this afternoon stressed…

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To questions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she reiterated her country’s position about the importance of direct negotiations towards the two-State solution and the avoidance of unilateral measures.  The United States, she noted, had called on the Israeli Government to reverse its recent decision to annex West Bank land.  On Gaza, she said that nothing underscored the need for negotiated peace than the devastation there, and her country had been discussing ways that the Council could play a positive role in engendering a durable ceasefire.  It was most important that the Council avoid any action that could harm the existing ceasefire or the prospects of further Cairo talks, she added. 

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