US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday the US position on the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is "as well-known as it is clear." "We believe that a two-state solution is the best way to ensure Israel"s future as a Jewish and democratic state living in peace alongside a viable democratic Palestinian state," he said in a press briefing. "That is why we will continue to focus our efforts on an approach that is affirmative, an approach that is practical, an approach that seeks to improve the quality of life for Israelis and Palestinians alike in the immediate term. "And over the longer term, to help keep the possibility of a negotiated two-state solution alive," the spokesperson stressed. "You"ve heard us say this before, but we believe that Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve equal measures of safety, of security, of prosperity, of democracy and of dignity. "That"s really at the core of our approach. What I would focus on are the tangible ways in which we have gone about seeking to improve the lives and the livelihoods of Israelis and Palestinians alike when it comes to the Palestinian people. "We have said from the earliest days of this administration spoken of our re-engagement with the Palestinian authority and in this case the Palestinian people," Price recalled. "We"ve resumed assistance to the Palestinian people. We provided over $400 million in economic, development, security and humanitarian assistance that includes $85 million in economic and development assistance, $40 million in security sector assistance, more than $20 million in food aid and COVID-19 related humanitarian assistance, and $318 million to UNRWA. "So, we have worked in tangible ways to bring about an improvement of lives and livelihoods, and that"s something that will continue to work on even as we"re in a period now where we have long been clear that negotiations towards a two-state solution aren"t on the table at the moment. "Our charge now and our focus is improving a standard of living as we keep that possibility of a negotiated two-state solution alive," he added Price also revealed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will host a virtual COVID-19 Ministerial Wednesday. The Secretary is convening his government counterparts, along with leaders from regional and international organizations, to assess current COVID-19 response efforts and to build on the momentum generated by President Biden’s September COVID-19 Summit to end the pandemic and to build back better our global health security. “We are committed to working with other countries to end the COVID-19 pandemic and to strengthen global health security. This is the beginning of what we hope will be regular and expanded convenings. And we welcome efforts to ensure that foreign ministers routinely discuss global health security as a central part of foreign policy, “ Price said. — Agencies