• Abbas presses on with UN Palestinian statehood bid, as France indicates support
    0 replies, posted
[url]http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=293259[/url] [quote=Jerusalem Post]Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has turned down requests from the US, France, Germany and Britain to postpone his plan to ask the UN this week to upgrade the status of a Palestinian state to non-member observer, PA officials in Ramallah revealed. The officials told the PA's official mouthpiece, Al-Ayyam, that Abbas was determined to pursue his statehood bid despite the requests. The officials expressed hope that the recent IDF operation in the Gaza Strip would increase the number of countries that would vote in favor of upgrading the status of a Palestinian state. Hana Amireh, member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that the statehood bid has become "very urgent" after the IDF offensive "because it mobilized widespread support for the Palestinians." Chief PLO negotiator told the Ramallah-based newspaper that the decision to go to the UN on November 29 was "irreversible." Abbas told the foreign ministers of the US, France, Germany and Britain that he's going to the UN, a PA official stressed. The PA is nevertheless expecting most EU countries to abstain during the vote on the statehood bid. Some EU countries will decide how to vote only in the last minute, PA officials said. PA attempts to persuade EU countries to vote in favor of the statehood bid will continue in the coming days, they added. Over the weekend, PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki said he tried to persuade his Italian counterpart to support the statehood bid at the UN during a meeting in Rome. Malki did not say whether he had succeeded in his effort. Abbas, meanwhile, expressed hope that US President Barack Obama would fulfill his vision for a two-state solution as he had stated in his 2009 Cairo speech. "President Obama is in his second term in office and we hope that he will stand with peace," Abbas told Palestinian high school students during a meeting in his office. "This could be the last chance for achieving peace and stability." Abbas reiterated his readiness to resume peace talks with Israel, but only after obtaining the status of non-member observer in the UN. "There is nothing that stops us from obtaining the status of non-member observer," he added. "That's why we will file the application on November 29 with a request for voting on it. We are sure that the countries of the free world would vote with us." Former US President Jimmy Carter on Friday phoned Abbas to voice his support for the statehood bid, the PA president's office said in a statement.[/quote] [url]http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/france-indicates-support-for-palestinian-un-vote[/url] [quote=Reuters]France on Thursday indicated it would support efforts by the Palestinians to secure a diplomatic upgrade at the United Nations in a quest for greater international recognition. Frustrated that their bid for full U.N. membership failed in the U.N. Security Council last year amid U.S. opposition, the Palestinians have launched a watered-down bid for recognition as a "non-member state", similar to the Vatican's U.N. status. This request can be approved by the U.N. General Assembly, where Washington has no veto, and seems certain to pass. Without specifically saying which way France would vote, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius hinted at support. "I would like to remind you of campaign pledge number 59 of ... President Francois Hollande, which said that there would be an international recognition of a Palestinian state," Fabius told members of the French Senate. A French government source said the comment was intended to indicate that France was leaning towards voting for the Palestinian request. The proposal, on which the General Assembly is due to vote this month, would recognise Palestinian statehood implicitly and could also grant access to bodies such as the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where the Palestinians could file complaints against Israel. However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking explicit approval from European powers to strengthen his position, knowing that a 'yes' vote would anger Israel and the United States and perhaps make future talks on a two-state solution more difficult. U.S. OPPOSED The United States says Palestinian statehood must be achieved by negotiation and has called on Abbas to return to peace talks that collapsed in 2010 over Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament on Tuesday: "While there is any chance of achieving a return to talks in the coming months, we continue to advise President Abbas against attempts to win Palestinian observer state status. "We judge that this would make it harder to secure a return to negotiations, and could have very serious consequences for the Palestinian Authority." During a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 31, Hollande said he regretted "the temptation of the Palestinian Authority to go to the General Assembly to get what it couldn't through negotiations". But Fabius, who met Abbas last weekend amid attempts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in their Gaza conflict, appeared to be signalling a change of tack. Abbas's proposal comes at a time when peace talks with Israel show no sign of resuming. "France is a friend of Israel and the Palestinian people and is defending peace, which means the security of Israel and the right of the Palestinians to have a viable democratic and peaceful state," Fabius said. The government of president Nicolas Sarkozy broke from its closest allies last year by voting in favour of giving the Palestinians full membership of the U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO. It had also promised to support Abbas if he opted to seek non-member status.[/quote]
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.