Palestinian state not viable with Israel's settlements: Saudi foreign minister

The Saudi foreign minister told the UN Security Council on Friday that Israel's settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank makes a "viable Palestinian state impossible. "Settlement makes the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible."
Prince Saud al-Faisal said during a council debate called on the Jewish state's settlement expansion in the West Bank. The debate was taking place only hours after the Middle East diplomatic Quartet was due to hold a ministerial session here to review prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians in the wake of the US-sponsored Annapolis process launched last November.
"The only path to Israel's security is peace and it is time for Israel to understand that it cannot continue to exempt itself from behaving in accordance to international law," the Saudi foreign minister added.
Monday, Saudi Arabia formally called for an urgent ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss Israeli settlement activities in "the occupied Palestinian territories." Israel's new UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev however told the 15-member council that while the settlements are a "delicate issue", they "are not an obstacle to peace." "They have been used here as another instrument to bash Israel instead of addressing the realities on the ground," she added.