(Jerusalem Post) Khaled Abu Toameh and Herb Keinon - The Palestinian Authority leadership has climbed a very high tree with its plan to ask the UN to recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines in September, Nabil Amr, member of the PLO Central Council and a former PA minister, said on Tuesday. He advised the PA to delay statehood by another year. Several other senior officials in the West Bank are also believed to oppose the move. He said the PA was taking a risk by going to the UN "despite the opposition of major parties in the international arena." The PA leadership has failed to correctly assess the reactions of these major parties to the statehood plan, he said. He added that he was opposed to "creating a state of confrontation between the Palestinians and the U.S. over the UN application." One Israeli government official responded to Amr's statement saying that "anyone who knows the reality, understands the UN path is a dead end, and the only way to peace and Palestinian statehood is through direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations." At the same time, no one in Israel assumes that the PA is going to pull back from its UN bid at the last minute.
2011-07-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive