A senior Palestinian official denied Israeli press reports about a new US initiative to salvage the stalled Middle East peace process and indicated that the plan for seeking international recognition of an independent Palestinian state unilaterally might turn into an issue of dissension with Washington, according a report published by the BNA.
The Americans have not proposed any such initiatives, said Dr. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, in a statement to Voice of Palestine radio station on Sunday, alluding to fresh informal efforts by US diplomats, aimed at finding common grounds for resuming peace negotiations between Tel Aviv and Ramallah.
American diplomats, namely Dennis Ross and David Hale, reportedly held talks with Palestinian officials and Israeli leaders, over the past days, in a bid to break the stalemate in the peace process. “The Americans only said to President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman that they are exerting all possible efforts to find an equation for resuming the negotiations on the basis of the recent speech by President Barack Obama,” said Erekat.
Obama has repeatedly called for resolving the protracted strife on the basis of establishing two independent states, Israel and Palestine, with withdrawal to the 1967 border line. However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphatically rejected the notion of pulling out to this line, arguing such a move would endanger Israel’s security. For their turn, Palestinian leaders have affirmed that they may end up with no option other than resorting to the UN, tentatively in the end of this summer, for international recognition of their state.
The American envoys made no new proposals, Erekat said of the latest behind-the-curtain talks between the Palestinian leaders and the US envoys. “President Abbas said to them we would like to hear from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about his acceptance of the principle of the two states with the 1967 borders and see cessation of the construction of settlements (in the occupied territories) including Jerusalem, and when this happens, the negotiations can be resumed.”
Erekat said that the envoys told the Palestinian side that the US Administration was against the plan to seek membership of the independent Palestinian state at the United Nations. “And we have affirmed to them that this will be an issue of dissension between us,” he added.
“There are no legal or political justifications for the American stance that rejects our plan to resort to the United Nations to get membership, especially that the US has not exerted the required pressure on its ally, Israel, to coerce it halt the settlement activities, thus threatening to jeopardize the (proposed) settlement of establishing two states,” he elaborated.
He also indicated that the US must put its political weight and coerce Israel accept the principle of withdrawing to the 1967 line. Netanyahu has recently spearheaded a public relations campaign in the US, trying to persuade the decision makers that the withdrawal to the 1967 border line would be dangerous for the safety of the Israelis. He also rebuffed calls for withdrawing from Jerusalem.