PA to go ahead with state recognition request at UN
The Palestinians will move ahead with their quest to win UN recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, Senior Fatah member Nabil Shaath said late Friday.
Shaath made the comments after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with US President Barack Obama and flatly rejected any return to the 1967 lines, the basis – along with agreed land swaps – for a deal with the Palestinians as laid out in Obama's speech Thursday.
However, Shaath said that "we will escalate our diplomatic efforts to get the recognition of the Palestinian state."
Shaath noted that Obama didn't threaten a veto. "We still hope that he will not do so, and that he will not stand in our way to freedom and independence, which he called for for all the Arab nations," he said.
Earlier on Friday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United States to put pressure on Netanyahu with regards to the peace process.
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, “the US administration has to put a stop to Netanyahu’s blatant refusal to enter into a real peace process and a permanent one based on the two-state solution," official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA reported.
Addressing Netanyahu's rejection of '67 borders, Abu Redeineh said, “These statements are an official declaration that he is not ready for true peace based on justice and international resolutions."
Regarding the prime minister's statement following the Obama meeting about refugees, Abu Redeineh said the issue should be settled in negotiations, not in press statements.
The Abbas spokesman also rejected foreign criticism of the recent Fatah-Hamas unity deal, which has been criticized by Israel and the West, who classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. The Palestinian government, he said, is "an independent government that has nothing to do with Fatah or Hamas and its program is that of President Mahmoud Abbas.”
“What Netanyahu is saying are excuses to avoid sitting at the negotiating table,” he added.