Palestinian statehood push undermined US efforts to release Israeli-held funds, envoy says

By Alexander Cornwell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on Wednesday that growing international momentum to recognize a Palestinian state directly led to the collapse of U.S. efforts to persuade Israel to release much-needed funds to the Palestinian Authority.

Huckabee said he had been “shuttling back and forth” between the two sides, partly out of concern that worsening economic instability in the West Bank could spark violence, but that momentum towards recognition had…