State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday that the United States is “actively pursuing” the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel and exploring options with partners in the region, Reuters reported.
Miller declined to give details on the department's internal work on the issue, but told a news briefing the effort has been an objective of President Joe Biden's administration.
"We are actively pursuing the establishment as an independent Palestinian state, with real security guarantees for Israel, because we do believe that is the best way to bring about lasting peace and security for Israel, for Palestinians and for the region," Miller said, as quoted by Reuters.
"There are any number of ways that you could go about accomplishing that. There are a number of sequencing of events that you can carry out to accomplish that objective. And we look at a wide range of options and we discuss those with partners in the region as well as other partners inside the United States government," he added.
The comments follow an Axios report earlier on Wednesday which said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had asked the State Department to conduct a review and present policy options on possible US and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza.
The Biden administration has pushed for a “two-state solution” to solve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last week that Biden is maintaining an “open mind” about what form a two-state solution with Israel would ultimately take.
Kirby added that the President understands “the need for some flexibility" when it comes to the format of an independent Palestinian state and is “under no illusions that how difficult it's going to be to get there, particularly with this conflict going on in Gaza.”
Kirby’s comments followed reports that Netanyahu told Biden in a phone conversation that he is not ruling out the creation of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu's office responded to the report by clarifying, "In his conversation with President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his policy that after Hamas is destroyed Israel must retain security control over Gaza to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, a requirement that contradicts the demand for Palestinian sovereignty."
Washington has previously linked the creation of a Palestinian state with the effort to get Saudi Arabia to normalize its ties with Israel.
US officials now also see a possible hostage deal that would free all the remaining hostage held by Hamas in return for a sustained ceasefire as instrumental and linked to making progress in the Saudi-Israel normalization effort, according to Reuters.