UK forcing Palestinians to drop UN bid

 

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/11/271565/uk-forcing-palestinians-to-drop-un-bid/

The British government is pressuring the Palestinian Authority (PA) to abandon its efforts for a non-member status in the United Nations, says a senior member of Fatah movement in Palestine.

“Until this moment, there is no international pressure on the PA concerning the UN bid (from Europe), except from Britain,” Nabil Sha’ath told Palestinian independent news agency Ma’an.

Sha’ath, who is a member of the Fatah Central Committee, said London has been trying to force the Palestinian Authority to drop its bid apparently for the US to get more time to kill regarding the bid for the recognition of a Palestinian state.

However, he pledged that the PA is determined to push with the bid despite London’s pressure and threats by the US to cut off its funding for the Palestinian Authority.

“The PA will not postpone the UN bid as it is a strategic decision,” Shaath said, adding that the bid would be submitted by the end of November.

Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has decided to table a resolution at the UN General Assembly for a Palestinian state.

In a recent interview with the Voice of Palestine Radio, Sha’ath stated that the PA expects several European countries to back the resolution.

“European countries are talking with us about the timing of the vote, the formula of the draft resolution to the UN.”

The US and the UK want Palestinians to return to the negotiating table over a deal with the Zionist regime of Israel.

The Palestinian-Israeli talks, observers consider no more than delaying tactics to buy time for Tel Aviv, hit a deadlock after the Israeli regime resumed building of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in October 2010.

The Fatah bid centers on recognition of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, but Abbas has said he will only return to talks with Israeli officials when they recognize a Palestinian state at pre-1967 borders.

Abbas is not widely supported in Palestine partly due to his position on the return of Palestinian refugees forced out of their lands by Israeli forces in May 1948.

Many Palestinians believe he has given up on the right to return, especially after his interview with Israel’s Channel 2 earlier this month where he said he ‘does not have the right’ to live in the city that his family was expelled from in 1948.

His remarks were also condemned by the resistance movement Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Islamic Jihad Movement.

World Bank supports Palestinian state

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173511.html

The World Bank has strongly supported the recognition of an independent Palestinian state following the backing by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a Thursday report, the World Bank compared core Palestinian institutions favorably with those in established countries.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced that it intends to work on the recognition of an independent Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly this September.

More than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine as a state based on the 1967 borders, boundaries that existed before Israel captured East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

The World Bank listed some Palestinian achievements, notably in health and education, but said poverty was a problem.

The poverty rate in the West Bank fell to 16 percent in 2009 from 23 percent in 2004, while the rate in Gaza increased to 33 percent from 30 percent, with 71 percent of Gazans relying on some form of social assistance.

"The PA faces challenges familiar to many in an existing state and like these states, it must navigate and reconcile varying stakeholders in both the West Bank and Gaza," the report said.

"The PA's performance to date, however, bodes well for the future," it added.

On Tuesday, the IMF reported that the Palestinian Authority's financial institutions are ready for statehood now that they have carried out a series of economic reforms.

France supports Palestinian statehood

French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie at a news conference in Amman, January 22, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161493.html


The French foreign minister has voiced her country's support for the formation of a Palestinian state and condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

"France supports the establishment of an independent, democratic Palestinian state as soon as possible," Michele Alliot-Marie said at the conclusion of her visit to the occupied Palestinian territories on Saturday, Ha'aretz reported.

She said her country does not recognize Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank and called for the construction activity to come to a halt.

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, and Uruguay are among over 130 countries that have recognized Palestinian statehood within the borders that existed before the Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War.

Paraguay and Peru are also expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.

In December, the French foreign ministry declared a decision to recognize a free and independent Palestinian state based on borders before the 1967 war to become the first European nation to do so.

US slams PA efforts against Israel

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161198.html


US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has criticized the Palestinian Authority (PA) for trying to condemn Israeli settlement projects at the UN Security Council.

"The only way that there will be a resolution of the conflict... is through a negotiated settlement," she told reporters at the State Department on Thursday.

"We don't see action at the UN or any other forum as being helpful in bringing about this desired outcome," AFP quoted the top US diplomat as saying.

On Tuesday, Palestinian resolution against illegal Israeli settlement buildings in the occupied Palestinian territories was formally put to the Security Council.

The resolution would condemn Israel's settlement activities and reiterate an existing UN demand for all building work in the occupied territories to stop.

Clinton did not comment on whether the United States will veto the resolution or not.

Meanwhile, a group of US cabinet officials, diplomats, journalists and pundits released an open letter, urging the US to ratify the resolution.

"If the proposed resolution is consistent with existing and established US policies, then deploying a veto would severely undermine US credibility and interests, placing us firmly outside of the international consensus, and further diminishing our ability to mediate this conflict," said the letter.

Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority once again reached a deadlock in September after Tel Aviv refused to extend a partial moratorium on settlement constructions in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians argue that the continuation of settlement activities reduces the chance of establishing an independent Palestinian state.

'Draft resolution to go to UNSC in Jan.'

An Israeli settlement (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157971.html


Palestinians and Arabs will soon submit a draft resolution before the UN Security Council (UNSC) demanding a complete halt to all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The draft resolution is due to come before the United Nations in January, when Bosnia takes the rotating presidency of the Security Council from the United States.

"We will go before the Security Council in the coming days to stop the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, especially East al-Quds (Jerusalem), capital of the future Palestinian state, which is a red line for all Palestinians and Arabs," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for the acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas.

"We will present a Palestinian and Arab resolution," he told AFP from Brazil, where he is accompanying Abbas on an official visit.

Direct talks between Israelis and the Palestinians, launched on September 2, broke down three weeks later after a 10-month Israeli moratorium on settlement building expired but Tel Aviv refused to renew it and continues the construction in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds.

It was on Dec. 15 that the Arab League announced it would seek a Security Council resolution against Israel, ordering a total freeze to Jewish settlements.

It also called on the United States, which has vetoed resolutions against Israel in the past, not to obstruct such a move.

The US has said that it will oppose any resolution brought before the UNSC that calls on Israel to end settlement activity in the West Bank.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said last week that the US continued to oppose Israeli settlement activity, but also opposed bringing the issue to the UNSC.

US House against Palestinian State

The US House of Representatives has approved a resolution opposing the declaration of a Palestinian state.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155697.html


The US House of Representatives has declared its opposition to the recognition of an independent Palestinian state, urging Palestinians to stop their efforts to push for such a move.

The House unanimously approved a resolution opposing unilateral declaration of Palestinian state on Thursday, Ha'aretz reported.

Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Howard Berman, who introduced the resolution, criticized Palestinian efforts to push the international community to recognize a Palestinian state.

The remarks came after Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay recognized the Palestinian state to support the rights of Palestinian people, whose land has been occupied by Israel.

The Latin American states announced that they recognize a free and independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

On Monday, the European Union also said in a statement that it "reiterates its readiness, when appropriate, to recognize a Palestinian state."

The resolution also urged the White House to "deny recognition to any unilaterally declared Palestinian state and veto any resolution by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to establish or recognize a Palestinian state outside of an agreement negotiated by the two parties."

According to the resolution, Palestinian leaders should cease all efforts to gain recognition of a Palestinian state from other nations, within the United Nations. It also called upon foreign governments not to extend such recognitions.

Washington, which brought the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel to the negotiation table once again in September, failed to persuade Tel Aviv to extend its partial settlement slowdown, which expired late September.

The ongoing Israeli settlement projects stalled the US-sponsored direct talks.

The United States agreed to provide fighter jets to Israel and veto any anti-Israeli resolutions in the UNSC instead of an extended three-month freeze, but last week the Obama administration said it would not continue to ask Israel for the move.

Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas has said he would not return to the negotiations as long as Tel Aviv continues its illegal settlement projects, adding that he would push for recognition of Palestine in the United Nations should Israel not cooperate over its settlement activities.

Palestinians say that the settlement activities are being carried out to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The international community backs Palestinian demands for a state in most of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem), all territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.