Palestinian leader ignores US warnings on UN statehood bid

Mahmoud Abbas says he will go ahead with request to UN security council to recognise independence despite US warnings The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has said he will go ahead with a request to the United Nations security council to recognise what amounts to a unilateral declaration of independence despite warnings from the US that it will raise “dangerous” false hopes and set back real self-determination. Abbas said in a televised address the Palestinians will see recognition next week of an independent Palestinian state on the basis of the borders of 4 June 1967 with East Jerusalem as the capital. He noted that the US president, Barack Obama, said a year ago he hoped to see an independent Palestine join the UN at this time. “Obama himself said he wanted to see a Palestinian state by September,” said Abbas. He said he would not bow to foreign pressure and what he called attempts to “buy off” the Palestinians. “We are going to the security council,” he said. “The world is sympathising with the aspirations of the Palestinian people.” Abbas’s defiant speech came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by the US, EU and Tony Blair in Jerusalem and Ramallah aimed at trying to avoid a showdown next week at the UN security council, where the Americans say they will veto a Palestinian request for recognition of statehood. The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said the Palestinians had “miscalculated” if they believed the move will bring them closer to independence. Rice warned that even if the Palestinians were to win a vote in favour of statehood it will not change the situation on the ground. “There’s no shortcut, there’s no magic wand that can be waved in New York and make everything right. In fact, there’s a risk in that because if you’re an average person in the Palestinian territories and your hopes have been raised that by some action here in New York something will be different, the reality is that nothing is going to change. “There won’t be any more sovereignty, there won’t be any more food on the table. And this gap between expectation and reality is in itself quite dangerous,” Rice told the BBC. “The miscalculation here on the part of the Palestinians is that by coming to the United Nations they will be in a better position to negotiate … As tough as it is today to bring the parties to the table, it will be much much tougher after action here in New York. If the aim is to isolate and confront Israel, which is the effect of this action potentially in New York, then that is not going to encourage Israel to come back to the negotiating table any sooner.” Abbas rejected the assertion that the UN vote will jeopardise talks. “We will come back to negotiations on other issues. But we need full membership of the UN,” he said. “Over the past year we have expressed our readiness to take part in serious negotiations. Israel has wasted time and imposed facts on the ground [by expanding Jewish settlements].” Israel, he said, had nothing to fear from the move. “Israel is there, no one can deprive it of its legal status, it is a recognised country.” But, he added, Palestinian statehood would mean Israel could no longer claim it was colonising “disputed territory. This is occupied territory.” On Thursday, Rice met Jewish American leaders in New York to assure them the Obama administration will do it all it can to derail the Palestinian move at the UN. But she conceded that Washington was unlikely to be able to prevent the Palestinians from taking a request for recognition of full statehood to the security council, or alternatively turn to the general assembly, which can offer only enhanced observer status. Washington is instead concentrating on garnering support against the move. It is targeting non-permanent members of the security council, such as Colombia, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the hope of ensuring they at least abstain if they are not prepared to vote against a Palestinian state, and so lessen the impact of a US veto. The US is also pressing Britain to back its position. The UK, which has one eye on its standing in the Middle East particularly as it is heavily involved in Libya, says it is undecided and is waiting to see the wording of the Palestinian request. However, Britain has suggested it is prepared to consider supporting a watered down request in the general assembly where the Palestinians can in any case expected to win with a comfortable margin. In the Middle East, the Europeans and Tony Blair – envoy of the quartet of the US, UN, EU and Russia – were attempting to engineer a compromise to head off the need for a US veto in the security council. One effort is to divert the whole issue to the general assembly. Another is for Abbas to submit his request for statehood but for it then to be put on hold while peace talks are revived. The request would then be activated if negotiations fail to reach an agreement within a year. The Palestinians are resistant to the idea in part because they do not believe the Israelis are serious about talks but also because it would not require a freeze on construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank – an issue that has become a major obstacle to fresh negotiations. There were reports in Israel that the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is prepared to consider an upgrade in the Palestinian status at the UN through a vote in the general assembly so long as it falls short of full membership. An Israeli official refused to confirm the reports but he did say that intensive efforts were continuing to find a compromise. “The goal is to avoid a diplomatic train wreck,” he said. “There are various ideas on the table to find a formula to allow us back to talks.” According to the Israeli official, there was a “greater understanding on the Palestinian side that the train wreck needs to be avoided”. But there was no certainty a deal could be reached. “The Palestinians climb up a tree, kick the ladder away, and then say help me get down the tree. It’s not always possible,” he said. However, there is no public indication the Palestinians are looking for a way to backtrack. Their team continues to insist they will demand full membership of the UN at the security council and will only seek a lesser status at the general assembly following a US veto. Netanyahu will address the general assembly next Friday hours after Abbas delivers his speech. Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian territories United Nations Israel Obama administration Tony Blair Binyamin Netanyahu Chris McGreal Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 16, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.