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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |||
| Abbas sees no alternative to UN showdown | |||
| 2011-09-20 | |||
Abbas met Ban at the UN headquarters and reaffirmed that he planned to ask this week for a Security Council vote on Palestinian membership despite the certainty of a US veto, his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudainah said. Ban, through whom any application must be made, told Abbas he would "perform his duties under the UN charter," and called for the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume negotiations "within a legitimate and balanced framework," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Earlier, Abbas said "all hell has broken out" over the statehood bid, and acknowledged it carried risks for his Palestinian Authority, which depends on international financial aid for its survival in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. "We decided to take this step and all hell has broken out against us," he told reporters on his flight to New York, but added that he would not be swayed. "From now until I give the speech, we have only one choice: going to the Security Council. Afterward, we will sit and decide." Abbas has said he will present his application to the Security Council on Friday. With a US veto looming at the Security Council, the Palestinians have said they could also go to the UN General Assembly to request an upgrade in their standing from an "entity" to "a non-member state" — a move they say is likely to pass with support from at least 126 members of the 193-member body. Abbas is expected to meet with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who warned that both Israel and the Palestinians were courting disaster by clinging to the status quo. "The only solution is to resume talks," Juppe said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
"We ... have withheld our position on how we would vote on any resolution that may come forward in the General Assembly in order to exert as much pressure on both sides to return to negotiations," he told Sky News in an interview. The United States says it opposes the Palestinian bid for full UN membership on the grounds that only a resumption of a two-decade old negotiation process can advance the cause of peace. It has also said it would not support a Palestinian vote in the General Assembly. A US Security Council veto would
Senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators — also met on Sunday and were expected to hold further meetings this week. The Quartet has for months been trying to put together guidelines for future peace talks, but Abbas has said they have offered nothing new. | |||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 This is Abbas's version 'campaigning for the Presidency'. He is currently President but his term expired years ago and decided this UN step would be a way to make his expired Presidency seem real and get to be the center of attention. It worked |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2011-09-20 07:15 |
| #2 Behavior which is rewarded is reinforced. The World been rewarding "Palestinian" (and Muzelimb in general) beligerence for three generations. |
| Posted by: gr(o)mgoru 2011-09-20 00:41 |
| #1 They don't want to talk to their neighbors to make it happen. I hope they try and I hope we veto, and I hope we withhold our aid money. They will be making noise regardless. |
| Posted by: Creregum Glolump8403 2011-09-20 00:23 |