WASHINGTON, Nov 2: The United States on Tuesday declined to criticize Israeli raids on Palestinian territories and called on the Palestinian leadership to take action against militants.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: “We urge the Palestinian Authority to take action.”

Mr McCormack said the United States wants the Palestinian leadership ‘to take actions, to stop terror and to dismantle those terrorist networks’.

He added: “We certainly understand Israel’s right and need to defend itself. We understand that, in any democratic society, that people look to their government to protect them.

“What we do in our public statements as well as our private diplomatic communications is we urge Israel, in taking steps to defend themselves, to consider the consequences of their actions on the overall goal that all share.

“And that is moving toward two states living side by side in peace and security — re-energizing the roadmap” to Middle East peace.

The spokesman said the United States and others had tried to help the Palestinian Authority ‘to build up their security force capabilities, and they have made great progress. So we encourage them to live up to their obligations’. —AFP