Mike Pence: “America stands with Israel. This weekend as the Secretary of State begins a key phase of negotiations in the road map…”

“America stands with Israel. This weekend as the Secretary of State begins a key phase of negotiations in the road map for peace, I am confident he will remember this core value of the American people. America is not a neutral party in the negotiations in the Middle East. We are not, nor do we aspire to be, an honest broker. America stands with Israel. In this vein yesterday in the Committee on International Relations, we adopted the Lantos amendment to the State Department authorization bill demanding a Palestinian first approach to concessions. The Palestinian Authority must first recognize Israel's right to exist, hunt down terrorists and dismantle terrorist infrastructure before Israel can be expected to make any concessions on the path to peace. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem and I pray that Prime Minister Abbas and his Cabinet will defeat the terrorists within their midst and choose life for their people in that war-torn region.”