Obama preps for declaration of Palestinian state
JERUSALEM – The Obama administration has asked the Palestinian Authority to halt talks on a unity government with Hamas, according to a senior PA official.
The official said the White House fears a unity government with the Islamist group would make it difficult for the U.S. and European Union to support the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state in the United Nations.
The information is the latest indicator Obama will not veto the controversial U.N. resolution, which would recognize a Palestinian state in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, purportedly including the Temple Mount.
Like Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria, is the site of biblical, historically Jewish communities.
According to the PA official, the Obama administration is concerned that support for a U.N. declaration of Palestinian statehood could have a negative impact on the president's 2012 re-election bid.
The official said the White House has asked the PA to take their U.N. state request directly to the international body's General Assembly, the only U.N. organ in which all member nations have equal representation, instead of to the Security Council, where the U.S. holds veto power.