Continued settlement activity is not helpful to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and has never been condoned by the United States, the State Department said Wednesday, dpa reported.
"We do not consider continued settlement activity or East Jerusalem construction to be steps that create a positive environment for the negotiations," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "At no time in the course of pursuing negotiations toward a two-state solution have we condoned settlement activity or East Jerusalem construction."
US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed his concerns about the settlements and construction in East Jerusalem on many times in the past to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and will again in the future, Psaki said.
She added that settlement issues are among the items to be resolved in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which started three months ago and are scheduled to last nine months, she said.