Washington: Calling on Palestinians and Israel to cease any kind of counterproductive and unilateral actions, the US said that now is the time for their leaders to show real leadership.
"As we turn the calendar to 2013 here, now is the time for leaders on both sides to display real leadership, to focus on the work that`s necessary to return to direct negotiations, and we urge both sides to clearly demonstrate that they`re serious about achieving two states living side by side in peace and security," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters on Wednesday at her daily news conference.
"So we call on Israel, we call on the Palestinians to cease any kind of counterproductive, unilateral actions and to take concrete steps to return to direct negotiations so that all the issues can be discussed and the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security can be realised," Nuland said in response to a question.
"We are counselling both sides to avoid provocative actions," she said. "We`re going to keep trying every single year until we have peace," she added.
"I think we always want to see a New Year advance the cause of peace. We want to see a better environment. I think that`s been the goal of American administrations for decades. So this is our first time to talk to you since the ball dropped, and we want to just take that opportunity to express our 2013 hopes," she said.
PTI
