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Source: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=199299
Palestinian Statehood Declaration Could Threaten U.S. Funding
(Jerusalem Post) Hilary Leila Krieger - Members of Congress are warning that American funding of the PA could be threatened by efforts to advance a unilateral declaration of statehood. "Pursuing a non-negotiated path to statehood is a fool's errand. Palestinians want a state, not a declaration. Their only way to achieve that is through direct negotiations with Israel," Rep. Howard Berman (D-Cal.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Jerusalem Post on Monday. "If they try to circumvent negotiations, they'll lose the support of a lot of people like me, and it will jeopardize their foreign aid as well," he said. Berman's concerns are shared by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who will head the committee next January. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are also circulating resolutions criticizing any Palestinian move toward a unilateral declaration of statehood. "The Palestinians have to understand there's going to be a cost for these reckless unilateral measures," said one aide to a Democratic member of Congress on the foreign operations appropriations subcommittee.