| Palestinians to ask UN to endorse independent state |
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16/11/2009 11:49 (817 Day 16:48 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- GAZA STRIP, Palestinian authorities are preparing to ask the UN Security Council to endorse the independent Palestinian state, the chief Palestinian negotiator has said.
"Under the initiative of the head of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization seeks to enlist support of Arab states, Europe, Russia, China and other international groups, in order to have an opportunity to apply to the UN Security Council a resolution for the recognition of the independence of the Palestinian state in its June 1967 borders," Saeb Erekat told journalists.
Erekat said the Palestinians were losing faith in the peace talks with Israel.
Nimer Hammad, advisor to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted by the Israeli Maariv newspaper as saying Palestinians will only address the UN "when proper guarantees will be given" to provide success of the initiative.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the move by the Palestinian authorities and insisted on negotiations toward a full peace accord. He warned Israel would retaliate to any unilateral Palestinian steps.
"There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and any unilateral path will only unravel the framework of agreements between us and will only bring unilateral steps from Israel's side," Netanyahu was quoted by the Haaretz website as saying in his address to the Saban Forum in Jerusalem on November 15.
The Palestinians claim an independent state be established on the territories of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Gaza Strip has been the subject of an almost continuous Israeli blockade since radical Islamic group Hamas took control of the enclave in the summer of 2007, and an Israeli air and ground offensive at the turn of the year killed some 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians.
The issue of Jewish outposts construction in the West Bank is the main obstacle to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians, and a sticking point in relations with the United States, Israel's main strategic ally.
Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity, and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from the Palestinian territories.
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