WASHINGTON

The US on Monday rejected an international conference on the two-state solution taking place this week at UN headquarters in New York, calling it an “unproductive” and “ill-timed” effort that undermines ongoing diplomacy.

“This is a publicity stunt that comes in the middle of delicate diplomatic efforts to end the conflict,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Monday.

“Far from promoting peace, the conference will prolong the war, embolden Hamas, and reward its obstruction and undermine real-world efforts to achieve peace,” she added.

Bruce said the US would not take part in the conference, accusing organizers of staging “a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th and a reward for terrorism.”

She also criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s recognition of a Palestinian state, calling it a “pattern of counterproductive gestures that only emboldens Hamas.”

The three-day conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, aims to explore concrete, time-bound steps toward implementing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Eight working groups have been established to address different aspects of the issue.

The meeting comes amid growing alarm from humanitarian agencies over mass starvation in Gaza, where Palestinians have been enduring a blockade on food and aid.

Israel has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in the Gaza Strip since the start of its genocidal war in October 2023, according to Gaza’s health authorities.