US Rep. Hoyer: Jonathan Pollard issue is a legal matter

Democratic whip says US will veto Palestinians statehood bid at the UN; directly negotiations the best solution to Palestinian conflict.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
US House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer 311 (R) (photo credit: Yuri Gripas / Reuters)
US House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer 311 (R)
(photo credit: Yuri Gripas / Reuters)
While most high-ranking dignitaries from the United States tend to avoid demonstrators on behalf of imprisoned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard, Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip in the House of Representatives of the US Congress had no such inhibition.
Hoyer stopped to talk on Wednesday with demonstrators opposite the President's Residence, where a delegation he is leading met with President Shimon Peres.
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Hoyer explained to The Jerusalem Post that the Pollard issue was a legal matter to be discussed by the legal systems of Israel and the United States and there was not much that he could do about it.
He also told reporters prior to the meeting with President Peres that he was the sponsor of a resolution that clearly put the United States on record as being opposed to the United Nations unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.
Such a declaration, he said, was not a positive step and that if necessary, the United States would use its right to veto in the UN Security Council. The best solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said, was direct negotiations without preconditions. he hoped this would happen soon.