Senior House members continue to reject efforts by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to achieve statehood at the United Nations this September outside of talks with Israel. “The Palestinian leadership is cynically attempting to gain recognition of or membership for a Palestinian state at the U.N. because that same leadership refuses to do what’s necessary to achieve a real, lasting peace with Israel,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said in a statement. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) echoed her sentiments. “We do not support or condone the effort by the Palestinian Authority to seek recognition of a state unilaterally,” Cantor told The Jerusalem Post. Cantor, who is expected to meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in a forthcoming trip to Ramallah, said he plans to tell the Palestinian leader that the United States stands strongly with Israel on this issue.