Erekat: Palestinians planning 'massive' diplomatic push for state recognition
Top Palestinian negotiator says PA has two-prong goal to gain recognition of Palestinian state based on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as capital, achieve membership as state in UN.
By Haaretz and Barak Ravid Tags: Palestinians Palestinian state Middle East peaceThe Palestinian Authority is planning a massive diplomatic campaign to gain recognition of statehood from both the United Nations as well as individual countries, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Sunday, according to a report by Ma’an News Agency.
Erekat explained that the PA had a two-prong goal: "First gaining recognition of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, secondly gaining membership as a state in the UN."
 |
Saeb Erekat at Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, May 1, 2010. |
| Photo by: AP |
The PA negotiator called the recognition campaign “massive”, according to the Ma’an report, and the initiative is being spearheaded by Fatah parliamentary bloc leader Azzam Ahmad and Palestine People's Party representative Bassam Salhi, who will travel to China to lobby support.
Other Palestinian leaders will take part in the push for Palestinian statehood, Erekat said according to the report.
PA officials Abbas Zaki and Sabi Seidam are going to India and Vietnam, PA spokesman Ghassan Al-Khatib will go to Australia and New Zealand, lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi will go to Canada and senior official Nabil Shaath will go to Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Portugal.
Palestinian President Abbas began a European tour on Saturday, and is visiting Norway, Spain and Turkey.
Just days ago, Erekat called on the U.S. to reconsider its decision to veto a Palestinian bid for statehood in the United Nations in September, saying there was no reason for the U.S. to withhold approval, according to an Army Radio report.
"Israel has ruined the peace (process), and the United States must reconsider its stance on the matter," the Palestinian negotiator said on Saturday.
Erekat criticized the U.S. inability to revive peace talks, saying the U.S. has no reason to veto the resolution for the establishment of a Palestinian state "after it failed to move the peace process forward or halt settlement building."
Despite Erekat’s entreaties, Palestinian sources and European diplomats have said that the Palestinians will give up their effort to be accepted as a full member of the UN - a move that would require approval by the Security Council - and will seek instead recognition by the General Assembly of a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders, which will not be a full member of the organization.
This is in a bid to avoid a U.S. veto in the UN Security Council, which following a failed meeting of the Quartet foreign ministers in Washington last week is appearing to be increasingly inevitable.
Over 130 of the 192 member states of the United Nations are expected to support the establishment of a Palestinian state if it is brought up for a vote by the General Assembly in September.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
one old mosque?
Erekat spins a fanciful takle of how israel doomed teh peace talks. Is that right? Seems for ten months the palis stayed away and only at the llast moment demanded another freeze in construction. Sorry folks But i for one do not support these pali dreamers for a state through the UN
Jewish tradition has foretold that 140 nations will confront Messiah at this time.
There are many nations like Eritrea and Myanmar, Sudan and Somalia that are just evil to the core. But in terms of being the master race and limiting any influence of any Minority Israel is the worst in the world. South Africa, the US South in pre-civil war plantation life, and now Israel. It must be fought by abolitionists worldwide.
Fatah (Erekat, Abbas, Fayyad) have all indicated that once Palestine is recognized, that they fully intend to work with Israel to implement a secure peace. There is no justification for Israel not moving with that trend, to realize a peace with its neighbor. The recognition of Palestine at 67 borders, affirms the Arab League proposal, and will result in the universal acceptance of Israel as Israel. Done deal. Why obstruct that?
The soon to be removed Australian PM Gillard and her zionist-owned boyfriend are of no relevance. New Zealand has always maintained a strong independent stance in foreign affairs and will no doubt continue to do so. Perhaps Khatib could meet with the parents of the disabled New Zealanders who had their identities stolen by Mossad assassins, or Joe Hockey,senior member of the Australian opposition whose family were victims of ethnic cleansing in Bethlehem in 1948.
Any sane person reading some of the rantings of Netanyahu, Lieberman and their apologists must wonder if Israel really is still on planet earth. There WILL BE a Palestinian state in 2011, and all your whining and moaning will not change that.
who wrote this piece? who edited it? '67 BORDERS? Geez, how desperate are some of us to be accepted by the nations? The ARABS demanded those lines NOT be called borders ... either you don't know that ... or ... your agenda .. has you misleading your readers ....
In case palestinians haven't noticed, settlers are truely gaining the upper hand in Israeli politics and are taking more and more of the west bank. As Palestinians spit on the peace process, more and more Israelis are starting to think that the current Israeli policy is the only way forward. In the next 20 years, Palestinians may earn recognition by 70% of the world. But in reality,they will not be living in their own declared state. Some happy orthodox jews will be dancing in horas over there instead.
Go home and then you will know peace.
The Palestinians have one intention and one intention only and peace does not play a part in their plans. They have adopted a tactic used to change South Africa which is to let sanctions criple the country after which they believe the way will be open for them to get whatever they want. They have no intention to undertake serious direct negotiations with Israel. Serious negotiations with Israel means making serious compromises, especially in Jerusalem and the holiest site for Jews, the Temple Mount. At this point in history they are not considering the possibility of sharing. Arafat rejected the Clinton proposal to share, and so does the current Palestinian leadership. They want it all. What they don’t know is that the resolve of the Jews is strong and this tactic will backfire and return to haunt them. Abbas is in for a big, unpleasant surprise. Israel is not the same as South Africa. Israel has a strong, compelling case. Jews have legitimate rights. The story is not just about Palestinians. Jewish history outdates that of Islam and archeological evidence supports this. I cannot change this fact and neither can the Palestinians. Pursuing the path of sanctions by the Palestinians is going to go down in history as another opportunity missed. They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. In the internet age, thankfully, enough people do and will understand that Israel is nothing like South Africa and they will not support the boycott calls. Radical Islam cannot hide its dirty laundry. Enlightened Palestinians need to cut their ties with the Iranians who will never allow real peace as they believe Jerusalem must be controlled by Muslims. According to the Iranians, sharing Jerusalem wil prvent the return of the Islamic prophet , the 12th Imam or Mahdi, who went missing 1150 years ago (look it up yourself). The refusal to rejoin peace talks during the 9 month settlement freeze proves this to be the case.
Why is it these so called peace lover's voices, can never be heard, when their brethren like the Syrians are being killed by Assad? I don't hear the Hezzi's, Hamas or the PLA complaining too much. Do you?
Israel unilaterally declared itself a state on 14 May 1948. A state which ignored completely the UN Partition Plan. And president Truman accepted it (pressured into it by the US jewish lobby). So, now is Palestine's turn to demand recognition for the 22% of what remains of its original territory. The least the US can do is to grant them that!
None of the Palestinian games will budge Israelis. If the Palestinians want a real state rather than the make believe state they are trying to achieve they will have to accept the Jewish state. Jews have all the time in the world to wait. They are in no rush to give away parts of the Jewish homeland.
How can you speak about "Jewish homeland" when it concerns land where Pals have lived peacefully since generations ?
The Palestinians need to learn of the importance Jerusalem has to us Jews. The Palestinians need to learn how to share the land prior a Palestinian state. If The world recognises a Palestinian state the world would legalise genoside illegal displacement of people and pure anti-simetic laws. For the question is will Jews be allowed to live in the West bank or olf Jeruslalem? We just need to look at the Gaza strip to find the true answers!
This is all PR bull, and will harm them in the end. The best thing the Palestinians can do is accept Israel as the state of the Jewish nation like they expect to have a state of the Palestinian nation. After many conversation with Palestinians I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that they will never accept a true two state two people solution. They want either a one Pal state solution or a Two Pal state solution.
As to what the Palestinians can do---Google Apartheid South African Regime and it,s demise. Go on Ron---you got the guts to learn the truth about what can be done. Of course Israel cab announce there is no longer an Occupation and annex the territories and give the vote to all those Arabs living there. either way---you are flummoxed and done for.
The important first step for the PLO is to get recognition from the UN that Palestine is "a state" and not simply "a disputed territory". The USA can not veto such a resolution. Once the PLO have that under their belt then they can go to the UNSC and appeal for assistance just like South Korea in 1950. Obama will then be in a bind, because if he vetos THAT then a "uniting for peace" resolution can override his veto. After all, that's exactly what "uniting for peace" is supposed to be for.....
Where's the money coming from? The US is currently flirting with default, the Europeans are gearing up to pay for Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal. They even have their own abbreviated PIGS to signify their financial plight by their countries first letters of each name. Fitting, nu?
Plastine should not refrain from negotiation and discussion with Isreal over the future peace process. I think through negotiation, this can be resolved.
Perhaps about the not complied UN resolutions?
This remark is in line with the International Court of Justice in 2004. They said that first Palestine must be a recoginsed state after which Israel and Palestine can negociate on an equel basis.
you still here big mouth
Al Huseini was Arafat's relative and a friend with Hitler. So the convention of Fatah is no better than the one of Hamas. search for it on net. this is disturbing
although he wanted the world to think he was. This was just another of Arafat's lies. Arafat did admire Hajj Amin al-Husseini, though, and claimed he was an uncle. What a wonderful role model: a Nazi supporter, raiser of three Muslim SS divisions convicted of war crimes, the man who convinced Hitler to appoint him the custodian of "The Final Solution to the Jewish Question" for the Middle East and a war criminal wanted by Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity. That's the kind of person Yasser Arafat admired and aspired to be, and he created the PLO to achieve this ambition.
Search for it on the net, this is disturbing. Even more disturbing is that Israel has elected at least three known terrorists and mass-murderers to be their PM's. Begin, Shamir and Sharon. What are your thoughts about that, Kyle? If you were disturbed about the very distant link between Erekat and the Mufti, you must be mortified by the very close link between Bibi and Begin.
If you really believe in a two-state solution based on 1967 armistice lines that you state publicly, why do you then privately have a one-state solution etched on your maps with no Israel in sight? Because you're a chronic liar and your "two-prong goal to gain recognition of a Palestinian State ..." is more like a two-prong, piece-by-piece goal to first weaken Israel and then finish her off with your Islamic savior of the month, in this case Iran and her paid terror thugs. You say you're going to the UN united but you supposedly are proposing the 1967 lines while your "united" partner is proposing the 1948 borders in his similar two-prong solution as yours, only then Israel would be that much more vulnerable.
Man plans, G-d laughs. Israel is the apple of G-ds eye and He dwells in Zion. He has a way of taking out the trash.
there never really was a peace process. The Arabs at no point had any intention of compromising on even one small thing. Israel has done all of the compromising, the Arabs have done all of the refusing.
jaja, you are so funny!
Such nonsense. In 1993 the PLO agreed to drop their legal claim to more than half of the territory allocated to the "arab state" (i.e. to them) in the Partition Plan. Or, put another way: they gifted to Israel a territorial concession of unprecedented generousity. A concession, I'll point out, that Israel immediately pocketed without so much as a "thank you".
Let's imagine that Egypt (this is just a theoretical example, I am well-aware that it is not realistic) invaded Israel and occupied the whole country, except for Tel Aviv. Egypt then starts building Arab-only settlements in the "disputed territories", pushing the local population closer and closer toward Tel Aviv. When "the world" and international organizations start condemning the Egyptian actions Egypt launches a "peace initiative". The initiative calls on Israel (Tel Aviv) to negotiate with Egypt on the return of the occupied territories. Israeli and Egyptian envoys meet and Egypt offers Israel peace and the return of 5% of the occupied territories, Israel of course rejects. This allows Egypt to continue its settlement enterprise, the goal of which is to create "facts on the ground" that make it impossible to return the occupied territories to Israel. Every couple of years, when international pressure gets too high, Egypt starts another peace talk - these talks drag on and on (while Egypt keeps building of course) and ultimately leads nowhere, perhaps Egypt offers 2% more of the occupied territories in return for peace. When the Israelis become disillusioned by the constant stalling and fake peace-offers and turn to the UN Egypt has its good friend Russia block any SC-resolution. And then Egyptian talkbackers start blaming the failure of the peace-process on the Israelis for taking unilateral actions instead of negotiating with Egypt, especially highlighting the fact that Egypt has made countless offers of "compromise", whereas Israel has always refused these compromises. Wouldn't you say that it is a little bit unfair to blame it all on the Israelis in this case? I think so...
Because all along its just been a sham for Israel to use while it continued its illegal encroachment into Palestinian territory
Please enlighten us, Nancy - what exactly are the Israeli compromises you refer to? Areas A in the WB?
Settlement building is part of compromising and demonstration of good will??
Israel has been confiscating lands throughout its history & lately said No No No No to all purposed outlines for peace negotiations... What are you asking for more ??? Blood donations ??
are you joking or are you just plain dumb..just recently the palestinian papers which were leaked showed the extent as to how far the palestinians were prepared to go to finish this damn problem. Israel on the other hand wants more than its fair share and refuses to end the 40 year old occupation, forcing pals. to live in unbearable conditions during that time. Are illegal settlements considered compromises in your world.
Johnboy, the only Arab "compromise" you can find was something that wasn't theirs in the first place, and O, your analogy is not valid on many levels. For example, Israel did not invade an Arab country -- it survived a war forced on it and took control over its own historical areas that had been occupied by Arabs.
Nobody will do this work for you. Only you can and will have to do it. Try it, after 63 years of useless violence .....
You're right of course. As soon as the Zionist state stops its useless violence and theft of land, the Palestinians may get their state and live in peace.
I know that there is a tendency here to skip centuries in time. However, peace with a settler colonialist entity is not that easy especially if it has an extra-interesting ideology.
accessible only by ethnical cleansing. Such a thing in the XXI. Century is no longer acceptable.
THESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN OCCUPIED FOR A HALF CENTURY,AND STILL HAVE HOPE IN PEACE AND TRYING FOR A RECOGNITITION.HOPE LIVES THROUGH TIME
Make the US dirty itself again, and again, and again...and those who vote WITH it will start dropping away one by one. Eventually it'll face a choice between losing its international standing - which is already fading because of this - or continuing to support Israel's policies which it opposes in the FIRST DAM PLACE!
That is what you need to get. Europe has started to catch on already. US will only get dirty if it submits to peer pressure to do the wrong thing. Thank God for the USA and true democracy.
In Siberia, or the North Pole. Where they can fire rockets to their little hearts content.
that's where the 'Jewish homeland' should have been. That way it could build its little settlements to its heart's content...without stealing anyone's lasnd to do it!
The majority of the world wants a Palestinian state in Palestine.
they can either move to Siberia, or they can simply stop occupying, colonizing, assasinating, imprisoning, invading, cluster bombing, phosphorous shelling, firing warning shots into the heads of non-violent protesters, stealing land and water, building apartheid walls, checkpoints.
Eleven hundred years ago Arabs conquered the middle east and stole what was Jewish land and at the same time committing genocide on on any people who refused to follow them thus hundreds of thousands of people were butchered in the name of Islam. Eleven hundred years later the Jews managed to reconquer part of their land back. The Arabs (Palestinians) are trying to get the rest of the world ( the infidels which according to the teaching Islam they must destroy) help them steal the land from the Jews again. This is like a thief robbing a house and after a while the original owner of the stolen property manages to get some of his property back, the thief goes to the police demanding the police arrest the original owner from whom he stole the property and help him get the stolen property back. If the UN falls for this manuvaring then the UN should be disbanded because it has become a joke wherte a resolution by Arabs that the world is flat would pass by a large majority