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Middle East and North Africa

No, I do not agree with that. President Abbas has always understood that such an application would not succeed in the United Nations Security Council. After all, it is the position of the United States that it would, if necessary, veto such a resolution. There is no Palestinian expectation that this application would succeed in the Security Council. What is important is what comes after this discussion. Of course, we want to see the resumption of negotiations in the Quartet. If that does not work, I think that the Palestinians will return relatively quickly to the United Nations General Assembly, where, as I said, different considerations will apply because the terms of any resolution there have yet to be framed. We will do our utmost to ensure that any such resolution helps the return to negotiations.