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U.S., Israel Fail to Soften Wording of Palestinian UN Bid
(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid - American-Israeli efforts to soften the wording of the proposed UN General Assembly resolution regarding the recognition of a Palestinian state has failed, an Israeli official said on Tuesday. The Palestinians refused to add a clause that would prevent them from filing criminal charges against Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Senior Obama administration officials contacted the chief of the Palestinian negotiating team Saeb Erekat on Wednesday and asked him to come to Washington urgently in order to negotiate the wording of the resolution, but Erekat refused. "Erekat told the Americans that he didn't have any time and that he would speak with them after the vote," said the senior Israeli official. The Palestinians made it clear to the U.S. that they are only prepared to provide an oral guarantee regarding the ICC for a temporary period of half a year.