22 April 2011

UNITED NATIONS: France and its European partners are considering giving formal recognition to a Palestinian state, Frances U.N. envoy told the Security Council Thursday.

Recognition of the state of Palestine is one of the options which France is considering, with its European partners, with a view to creating a political horizon for relaunching the peace process, French Ambassador Gerard Araud told a U.N. Security Council debate on the Middle East.

If we retain this solution, it should favor a resumption of negotiations on the basis of well-known international parameters, Araud said.

The envoy spoke just after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas held talks with Frances President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has spoken about possible state recognition. He said Tuesday that France was working with its EU partners to try to get Israelis and Palestinians back around the negotiating table and that this could lead to statehood recognition later this year.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians are calling on the U.S. and other Mideast mediators to demonstrate bold leadership and endorse a European proposal for a peace agreement with Israel.

Riyad Mansour, the top Palestinian diplomat at the U.N., told the Security Council Thursday, a clear endorsement by the Quartet which includes the U.N., U.S., EU and Russia would seriously contribute to reviving stalled negotiations with Israel.

The European proposal includes immediately halting settlement activity and a return to pre-1967 borders with land swaps.

Mansour reiterated the Palestinians are determined to become an independent state by the September target set by the Quartet and endorsed by U.S. President Barack Obama.

In an interview with AFP, Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Dan Meridor said the Palestinian strategy of avoiding negotiations in favor of achieving statehood via the U.N. would achieve little on the ground and only exacerbate the conflict.

They have a new strategy no terror, building a state bottom up with economic growth, and, at the same time, they want to replace negotiations with pressure on Israel, to replace an agreement with a U.N. resolution, he said.

The strategy, which comes as talks remain in deep freeze over the issue of settlements, has caused deep concern in Israel, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak warning it would create a diplomatic tsunami against the Jewish state.

The Palestinians first issued a declaration of independence in November 1988 and 130 countries have since recognized their state on the 1967 borders, Abbas has said.

And many more look set to do so in September including four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, senior negotiator Nabil Shaath told AFP in an interview at the weekend. What will happen will be like last time the Americans will veto, and the other four will say: We accept, he said referring to a February Security Council resolution against settlement building.

This time, if the Americans veto the motion, the issue will be referred to the U.N. General Assembly under a Uniting for Peace resolution which allows the 192-member body to take binding decisions, he added.

When we become a full member [of the General Assembly] recognized by two thirds of the community of nations, we become an independent state whose land is occupied illegally by another member, he said.

Meridor said the strategy could leave Israel facing even greater international isolation but that it would also not help the Palestinians.

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.