Abbas may circumvent Israel, ask U.S. to recognize Palestinian state [View All]

[Violet_Crumble]

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told Arab leaders he may seek U.S. recognition for a Palestinian state, which would include all of the West Bank, should peace talks with Israel break down, an aide said on Saturday.

The idea, raised during Arab League deliberations in Libya on Friday, would place new pressure on Israel to extend a recently expired freeze on construction of settlements in the West Bank - a Palestinian condition for continuing recently relaunched direct peace negotiations.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said "alternatives" to the face-to-face talks launched five weeks ago had been discussed, among them "ask(ing) the United States to recognize the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders."

" is to study the possibility of going to the Security Council to get a resolution that calls upon member states to recognize the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders," he told Reuters by telephone from the Libyan town of Sirte.

Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip - territory that Israel captured from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 war. Israel quit Gaza in 2005 but insists on keeping all of Jerusalem and swathes of West Bank settlements under any peace accord.


http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/abbas-may-circumvent-israel-ask-u-s-to-recognize-palestinian-state-1.318005