After comments by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Jerusalem Day that Israel would “prioritize” building to the city, and a declaration by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch that Israel would continue to demolish illegally built Arab structures in the city, the State Department issued a warning against “inflammatory actions” in Jerusalem.
“Our policy on Jerusalem remains unchanged. The status of Jerusalem is an issue that should be resolved in permanent status negotiations between the parties. This underlines the importance of making progress in the proximity talks to enable the parties to move to direct negotiations that will resolve this and other issues once and for all," the statement said. “As we have said, if either side takes significant actions during the proximity talks that we judge would seriously undermine trust, we will respond by holding them accountable and ensure that negotiations continue,” it added.