Following the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority, a bipartisan group of 23 senators wrote U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to express “profound disappointment with the vote.” The initiative was led by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

“We are deeply disappointed that the Palestinians rebuffed President Obama’s personal entreaty to President Abbas and insisted on pursuing this distinctly unhelpful initiative,” the senators wrote. “This is a truly unfortunate outcome. We had hoped that Israel and the Palestinians would be able to return to the negotiating table and work to resolve their differences through direct talks.”