Palestine seeks UN support for state
- Source: Global Times
- [12:56 November 16 2009]
- Comments
The Palestinian Authority is considering appealing to the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state because of a lack of progress in restarting peace talks with Israel. The territory includes areas Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, as well as the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
Israel continues to build Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinians want to establish their state.
The Palestinians have already enlisted the backing of Arab nations and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will lobby for support in his upcoming visit to South American and European nations.
"We have not been negotiating the two states for 18 days or 18 months. For God's sake, we have been doing it for 18 years," Erekat said, disappointed by the deadlock in peace talks.
According to a BBC report, the move was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamine Netanyahu Sunday, who warned, "There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Any unilateral action would only unravel the framework of agreements between us and can only lead to one-sided steps on the part of Israel."
Erekat declined to offer a timetable for the move. Nimr Hamad, an adviser to Abbas, said the Palestinians "have no intention of rushing" to the UN Security Council, and Abbas would travel to Cairo Wednesday to discuss the plan with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The US will not push for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and the Obama administration would rather wait, according to unnamed American officials.
An article in the Jerusalem Post published Monday said the move would change little, and nothing would be solved on the thorny issues that face negotiators regarding border, security, Jerusalem and refugees.
