Curt Here...
According to the article posted below Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening to retaliate if the Palestinians declare a unilateral state. The Palestinians are also considering seeking a UN resolution to declare a state of Palestine. He said, "Any unilateral action would only unravel the framework of agreements between us and can only lead to one-sided steps on the part of Israel." The implications are clear, Israel will do whatever it takes to protect themselves no matter how it may affect those around them.
The article goes on to say that the declaration would largely be symbolic as the US would likely veto any UN resolution. This I am not so sure about. As I stated in one of my past commentaries on this subject I don't believe the Palestinians will seek a UN resolution until they are convinced that it will pass. I think they are actively working behind the scenes to convince the leaders of the world to support this eventual UN resolution. In my mind there are a couple of very telling statements in this article that supports this idea.
The first is from Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat when he said, "We are going to have to prepare for this well and to hold political and diplomatic talks. We want the Security Council to discuss this only after we've been given assurances. There is no point in rushing just so that we collide with an American veto." He went on to say, "The endgame is to tell the Israelis that now the international community has recognized the two-state solution on the '67 borders."
I think most of the rest of the world is already on board with this idea as it is suggested at the end of the article, and with an already strained relationship between the Obama Administration and Netanyahu, I don't suspect it will be to long before the US decides not to veto such a resolution.
Time is short.
Stay Tuned.
Curt
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Netanyahu Threatens to Retaliate if Palestinians Declare Statehood
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to retaliate if Palestinians declare a unilateral state, saying such a move would unravel existing agreements with the Israelis.
Netanyahu’s stern comments come the same day that a senior Palestinian official told Fox News they are considering a U.N. resolution to declare a Palestinian state. Palestinian officials had said Sunday they were preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent state without Israel's consent because they were losing faith in the peace talks.
But Netanyahu, speaking at the Saban Forum in Jerusalem, said there is “no substitute” for negotiations.
"Any unilateral action would only unravel the framework of agreements between us and can only lead to one-sided steps on the part of Israel," he said. He did not elaborate further.
The statehood idea appeared to be largely symbolic. The U.S., Israel's closest ally, would likely veto any initiative at the United Nations, and Israel controls the areas where the Palestinians want to establish their homeland. Nonetheless, the move reflected growing Palestinian frustration with the deadlock in peace efforts....
...Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said frustrated Palestinians had decided to turn to the U.N. Security Council after 18 years of on-again, off-again negotiations with Israel. The Palestinians seek an independent state that includes the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
"Now is our defining moment. We went into this peace process in order to achieve a two-state solution," he said. "The endgame is to tell the Israelis that now the international community has recognized the two-state solution on the '67 borders." ...
... "We are going to have to prepare for this well and to hold political and diplomatic talks. We want the Security Council to discuss this only after we've been given assurances," he told the Israeli daily Maariv. "There is no point in rushing just so that we collide with an American veto."
As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the U.S. wields veto power over any resolution. Israeli media predicted that the U.S., Israel's key ally, would veto the move. Hamad said Abbas would travel to Cairo Wednesday to discuss the plan with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
There was no immediate reaction from Security Council members. But Erekat said Russia, another permanent member of the Security Council, and unspecified European nations are "on board" with the Palestinian plan.
For the rest of the article go here.. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575223,00.html
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Erekat: PA planning to declare statehood
The Palestinian Authority is mobilizing international support for declaring statehood, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Saturday.
"The idea is clear and understandable," Erekat told the Palestinian daily newspaper Al-Ayyam. "Now we mobilize."
Palestinians will bring the issue to a vote before the United Nations Security Council, which would declare a Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 border with Israel, he explained. He called the initiative a response to Israel's policies, which would send a clear message that "settlements and other unilateral actions are null and void and do not establish rights or territory."
Erekat said he had discussed the idea more than once with the Americans and Europeans, while President Mahmoud Abbas raised the proposal with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian officials, who reacted positively. Abbas will seek support from Latin America by the end of the week, Erekat added, and continue to lobby Europe.
The concept was first proposed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, he said. "Contacts with the Europeans have been ongoing as well as with Russia and the UN. All Arab countries support the idea and will choose the right time to bring up the issue with the UN Security Council after they consult the other international powers, including Europe and even America."
For more go here..
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=239801
Curt
U.S.: Best way to achieve a viable Palestine is talks
The United States on Monday reaffirmed its support for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations, in its first official response to a Palestinian plan to declare statehood without Israeli consent.
"It is our strong belief and conviction that the best means to achieve the common goal of a contiguous and viable Palestine is through negotiations between the parties," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
U.S. senators visiting Israel said earlier in the day that on Monday that Washington would veto a Palestinian declaration of statehood in the United Nations Security Council.
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The idea of seeking UN intervention has been gaining steam in the Arab world as the impasse in peacemaking drags on. The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967.
The senators said the threat by Palestinian officials to take the issue to a UN resolution was a waste of time and would go nowhere. They urged Arab states to stop it.
"It would be D.O.A. - dead on arrival," Democratic Party Senator Ted Kaufman (DE) told a news conference in Jerusalem. "It's a waste of time."
Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT), an independent, said "an essentially unilateral" declaration of statehood was the one thing that would not move the stalled peace process forward."
Meanwhile, the Palestinians asked the European Union on Monday to back their plan.
"We will seek the support of all members of the international community," Saeb Erekat, a top adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters in Ramallah. Besides the EU, they also plan to seek U.S. approval, Erekat said.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the Arab-backed proposal at their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, said Petra Dachtler, an adviser to the EU's special Middle East envoy, Marc Otte. Because the idea has only been floated recently, the EU has yet to formulate an opinion, she said.
The EU is not on the Security Council, but EU members France and Britain are permanent council members that wield veto power.
For more go here..http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/
1128496.html
Curt
EU rejects request to recognise independent Palestine
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union has rejected a request from the Palestinian Authority that it back plans to unilaterally declare the occupied territories an independent state.
The independence move, which would entail an attempt to win recognition by the UN Security Council, could come within weeks, a senior Palestinian official has told EUobserver.
On Monday, frustrated with the impasse in peace negotiations with Israel, the Palestinian leadership said it had formally requested that the EU back the plan for recognition of independence without Israeli authorisation.
EU leaders on Tuesday however said that while it is the bloc's hope that there will one day be a two-state solution to the long-standing dispute, it was premature to declare statehood and argued that the only way to achieve such an end was through negotiations with Israel.
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, whose country currently chairs the EU's six-month rotating presidency, said: "We have said previously that we would be ready to recognise a Palestinian State, but the conditions are not there yet,' said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on behalf of the EU's presidency."
For more go here...http://euobserver.com/9/29006
Curt
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