UN Security Council
UN Security CouncilReuters

The United States provided a cool reception on Friday to a new French initiative on a new Security Council resolution to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

"We're not going to get ahead of any decisions about what the United States would do with regard to potential action at the UN Security Council," a U.S. official told AFP, hours after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced the plans.

"We continue to engage with key stakeholders, including the French, to find a way forward that advances the interest we and others share in a two-state solution," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Fabius told reporters at UN headquarters in New York earlier on Friday that discussions on a text for the new resolution would start "in the coming days."

The Security Council in December rejected a resolution that would have set a deadline for reaching a final peace deal and pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state.

The United States had voted against the measure but was spared from resorting to its veto after eight council members including France voted yes, one vote short of the nine needed for adoption.

"I hope the partners that were reluctant will be less reluctant," Fabius said, adding, "It is necessary to move forward to have a solution to this problem.”

Last week, following the results of the elections in Israel, Fabius called for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume in order to achieve "a comprehensive and lasting peace accord" based on the “two-state solution”.

The latest French move comes a day after UN envoy Robert Serry told the Security Council that it should step in to present a "framework for negotiations, including parameters" to achieve peace.

"This may be the only way to preserve the goal of a two-state solution, in the present circumstances," Serry said in a bluntly worded assessment of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)