Washington, DC -- Rep. Eliot L. Engel, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today urged the United States to veto the pending resolution condemning Israel in the United Nations Security Council. On February 12, 2011, in response to a question by Rep. Engel in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said, "We do not think the Security Council is the right place to engage on these issues."

Rep. Engel said, "It is absolutely outrageous that the U.N. Security Council will consider a resolution condemning Israel on settlements which is a final status issue. Frankly, I think the Palestinians should be condemned for walking away from peace talks. I strongly urge the Obama Administration to veto this resolution if it comes before the Security Council."

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Below is Rep. Engel's exchange with Deputy Secretary Steinberg (Committee on Foreign Affairs, February 10, 2011):

Mr. ENGEL.[W]e have this resolution before the Security Council which condemns Israel for the settlements, and makes it seem that the settlements are the reason why there is no peace, which I think is a bunch of nonsense. I think that if the Palestinians would negotiate with the Israelis then the settlement issue, along with other issues, would be taken care of.

I would hope that if that happens, the administration would strongly and forcefully veto such a resolution as we have in the past. And I believe that the administration so far has not yet unequivocally indicated that it would do so. So I would like to ask you is that a fact, and if it is, I would strongly urge the administration to veto this resolution of the Security Council if it comes up.

Mr. STEINBERG. With respect to the Security Council, we have made very clear we do not think the Security Council is the right place to engage on these issues. I have had some success, at least for the moment, in not having that arise there. We will continue to employ the tools that we have to make sure that that continues to not happen. And we made clear both to the Palestinians and our key partners that there are other venues to discuss these issues, but the most important one of which is the one that you identified, which is the only way that this is going to be resolved is through engagement between the two parties, and that is our clear consistent position.

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