Abbas: PA will seek UNSC recognition along '67 lines
PA president says he has support of more than 130 countries that have recognized Palestinian state; says wants to move forward with peace talks.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHAbbas311 reuters(photo credit: reuters)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that the PA has decided to ask the United Nations Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, because the peace talks with Israel are stalled.Abbas told reporters in Tunis that the PA wanted to move forward with the peace talks on the basis of international legitimacy and the cessation of settlement construction.RELATED:'PA will get majority UN-recognition for Palestinian state'PA: US must present peace plan before we declare stateKey Quartet meeting put off by a month'Palestinian state declaration would hurt US aid to PA'“This is what we want and we urge the US to put pressure on Israel,” he said. “We’re not setting preconditions. We are only demanding the implementation of international legitimacy which, under the terms of the road map, envisages a two-state solution.”He said that unless a solution is reached in the near future, the PA would ask the UN to “consolidate” the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines and implement US President Barack Obama’s vision of a Palestinian state, which would be a full member of the UN in September.Abbas said that the Palestinians don’t have any assurances regarding their intention to go to the UN Security Council to seek recognition of a Palestinian state.“We have more than 130 countries that have recognized a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders,” he pointed out. “We are going to the UN because there are currently no talks with Israel.”Abbas’s remarks came as he prepared to leave for Paris, where he would seek the backing of French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the PA’s plan to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state.Nimer Hammad, political adviser to Abbas, said that the PA was not interested at this phase in unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state.Hammad accused Israel of hindering all international efforts aimed at ensuring the success of the peace talks with the Palestinians.
He claimed that the US position regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state remained “unclear” – although Washington has voiced its opposition to a unilateral move on the part of the PA.PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is closely associated with the PA president, said that the Palestinians decided to go to the UN after the US failed to reach an agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state.“The US Administration knows our position – especially after its efforts to launch serious talks with Israel failed,” Abed Rabbo said. “The road to the UN has become open because the road in front of the US has been blocked.”Top Fatah official Azzam al- Ahmed also stressed the PA’s determination to seek recognition of a Palestinian state in September, arguing that the state institutions were ready.“Our institutions are much better than many countries,” he said. “We have a developed judiciary system, a high court of justice and a constitutional court. All the Palestinian institutions function in accordance with advanced international standards.”
