PA asks Arab FMs to hold meeting on statehood bid

Palestinians hoping to win the backing of as many Arab countries as possible for the statehood bid; Erekat lobbies EU for support.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
erekat raise the roof REUTERS 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
erekat raise the roof REUTERS 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday officially requested an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers to discuss its plan to ask the UN in September to recognize a Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967, lines.
Barakat al-Farra, the PLO envoy to Egypt, said that the meeting was being called to discuss arrangements and steps that the PA needs to take to achieve UN recognition of a state.
RELATED:PM: I want to hear Abbas say he will accept a Jewish statePA butts heads with US over September bid at UNHe said that the PA leadership was now waiting for the Arab League to set a date for the emergency meeting.
The PA is hoping to win the backing of as many Arab countries as possible for the statehood bid.
PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat on Tuesday urged the EU to back the PA’s statehood initiative.
Erekat told German, Norwegian and British diplomats that the Israeli government was working to destroy the peace process and the two-state solution by continuing with its policy of construction in West Bank settlements and in east Jerusalem.
Erekat also attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for allegedly rejecting US President Barack Obama’s two-state vision.
Erekat called on the EU to follow suit with other countries and recognize a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital.
PA negotiator Nabil Sha’ath is expected to visit several countries in the coming days to persuade them to support the statehood plan at the UN.
Sha’ath said that the PA would abandon its statehood bid only if Israel agreed to a full cessation of settlement construction and accepted the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 “borders.”