News

Israel must decide whether it is serious about peace or whether it will pay "only lip service" to the idea, Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has said.

Speaking at a conference in Jerusalem organised by Shimon Peres, Israel's president, Rice said the US was committed to Israel's security.

But as part of that, she said, the Israeli government should immediatelyrelaunch negotiations, without preconditions, aimed at creating anindependent Palestinian state.