RAMALLAH: A senior Palestinian official has said the Palestinian Authority (PA) may ask the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, a report said on Saturday.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the PA was currently busy enlisting the support of various countries for such a move. The Palestinians have already received the backing of Arab nations, and Erekat said he believed Russia and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would support the call.
Erekat said in recent meetings with EU and UN officials, responses to the idea had been positive. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, he noted, was in support of the idea and had himself broached it at a recent event.
Erekat said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be lobbying for support in his upcoming visits to South America and Europe. He said he had brought the idea up several times in meetings with US officials and would continue to do so.
Negotiations on Palestinian statehood stalled this year as the Israeli government led by hawkish Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu continued settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and refused to endorse the two-state solution.
Meanwhile, American officials told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Washington was not interested in pressuring the Israelis and Palestinians into resuming the stalled peace negotiations. The source said the US administration would rather wait than rush things and have the peace talks fail.
The daily quoted an official US source as saying, “We don’t want to push in the direction of peace talks before both parties are ready to do so.”
The source reportedly said that the US administration does not want to go back on its policy of ruling out “talks for the purpose of talks alone,” and Washington would rather hold off in the meantime, and not push the parties into direct talks.
“We are still committed to peace in the Middle East,” the paper quoted the source as saying, “and Mideast envoy George Mitchell’s efforts are still focused on attempts to create the most suitable conditions for talks.”
Another source said, “We are still focused on attempts to jumpstart direct Palestinian-Israeli talks, but the level of talks remains uncertain.”
In talks with US diplomats in Ramallah earlier this week Palestinian officials said nothing short of an Israeli commitment to a complete halt to settlement construction would make Abbas to reconsider his recent threats to resign.
On Friday, Palestinian sources expressed disappointment with Israel’s alleged decision to focus its efforts on the Israeli-Syrian channel and abandon the possibility of holding talks with the Palestinians.
