Bethlehem - Ma'an - The United States backs Palestinian efforts to achieve an independent state, but only through negotiations with Israel, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters on Monday.

"We support the creation of a Palestinian state that is contiguous," he said. "We are convinced that has to be achieved through negotiations between two parties. We support a Palestinian state that arrives as a result of negotiations between two parties."

Kelly also said he was unaware if the PLO had sought America's opinion, according to Agence France-Presse.