Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Quartet Representative Tony Blair (R)attend a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, the donor support group for thePalestine, at the United Nations in New York Sept 18, 2011. [Photo/Agencies] |
NEW YORK - A last-ditch international push began in New York on Sunday totry to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and avert a crisis overPalestinian statehood at the United Nations.
Officials met two days after President Mahmoud Abbas said he would demand full membershipof the world body for a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly this week, setting up adiplomatic clash with Israel and the United States.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton onAshton's recent trip to the region. "We share the goal of trying to bring the parties back to thenegotiating table," a US official said.
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, an EU official said, as partof an intense effort in recent weeks to persuade the Palestinians to avoid a confrontation.
The official said the diplomats were assessing the situation, but gave no further details. Theyare likely to meet every day this week, a US official said.
Washington and Israel say a UN vote over Palestinian statehood would damage chances forpeace negotiations, arguing that a state can only be created through a settlement between thetwo sides.
But in a televised speech on Friday, Abbas said he would request the Palestinians' "legitimateright, obtaining full membership for Palestine." The Palestinians say almost 20 years of on-offdirect talks on statehood envisaged by interim peace accords have hit a dead end.
The United States says it will veto in the Security Council a Palestinian application for full UNmembership, but former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who serves an an envoy for theQuartet, said on Sunday a showdown could still be averted.
Blair told reporters, "The Palestinians are here at the UN now, so the question is ... can peoplefind a way that enables the Palestinians to take a significant step forward to statehood at thesame time as not ending up in a situation where the UN replaces negotiations?"
Timeframe
The Quartet has for months been trying to put together guidelines for future peace talks, but sofar without being able to agree on key details.
Blair told the ABC Television program This Week a proposed statement would set out "where wewant to go on issues like borders ... And I think what's going to be really important is also to givesome sense of a timeframe, a timeline, if you like, for a successful negotiation."
The last round of the US-backed talks between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu collapsed nearly a year ago. The Palestinians pulled out after Israel declined toextend a partial moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank on land the Palestinianswant for their state.
Apart from borders, key points of contention include the status of Jerusalem, the future ofPalestinian refugees and whether Israel should be acknowledged as a Jewish state.
The Palestinians say they will not resume talks unless the moratorium is reinstated. Israel saystalks should resume without preconditions but that it accepts the idea that the Palestiniansshould ultimately have their own state.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Sunday told a Palestinian donors conferenceat the United Nations that Israel wanted to go on aiding Palestinian economic development, butthat could change if the Palestinians declare a state.
"Future assistance and cooperation could be severely and irreparably compromised if thePalestinian leadership continues on its path of essentially acting in contravention of all signedagreements," he said.
US President Barack Obama is under pressure from Congress to back Israel's stance.Republican House speaker John Boehner told a Jewish group in Cincinnati on Sunday the UScommitment to Israel "should be stronger than it's ever been."
Some in Congress have called for a suspension of US aid to the Palestinians if they seekstatehood. Donor aid is already declining but Sunday's UN conference called on donors toprovide "adequate and predictable funding."
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