The United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday reiterated their commitment to comprehensive peace in the Middle East, calling on Israel and Palestine to resume talks as soon as possible.

"We re-affirmed our commitment to comprehensive peace, and to the common objective of achieving a two state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace and security," said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdulla bin Zayed al Nahyan in a joint statement.

They said that the two countries share a common vision for a secure, stable, and prosperous Middle East and agreed on the need for Israel and the Palestine to resume negotiations as soon as possible. The talks were stalled in December 2008 when Israel launched a military campaign against the Islamic Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip.

The comment came after the Palestinians threaten to unilaterally prepare for a possible international recognition of a Palestinian statehood.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has recently said that the Palestinian side, regardless of the status of the peace process with Israel, would "create positive facts on the ground and continue the building of the (future) Palestinian state's foundations."

The Obama administration, vowing to ensure peace and security of Israel and the Palestinians by the so-called Two-State solution, has been tired of persuading the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to relaunch the long-stalled peace talks.

PNA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas insists that the talks would not be resumed until the Israeli government totally freezes the Jewish settlement construction, while the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu accuses the PNA of setting precondition for the peace talks.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2010)