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Israeli Ambassador: Palestinian Statehood Vote Could End All PA Agreements with Israel and the U.S.

(The Cable, Foreign Policy) Josh Rogin - If the Palestinians go forward with their drive to seek recognition as a state at the UN General Assembly next month, all agreements governing Israeli-Palestinian and U.S.-Palestinian cooperation could become null and void, according to Israel's ambassador to the United States. "We have a lot of agreements with the Palestinian Authority, we have no agreements with a 'Government of Palestine,'" Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, told The Cable in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. "It's just a fact, we have no agreements with a 'Government of Palestine.' It puts us in a different realm." Oren said that agreements covering all sorts of fields, such as import-export, water sharing, and Israel-Palestinian security forces cooperation, would become invalid if the Palestinians declare statehood unilaterally, based on a vote at the UN - rather than by negotiating statehood with the government of Israel via the stalled peace process. "It's not just our agreements with the Palestinian Authority, it's America's agreements with the Palestinian Authority (that are at risk)," Oren said. "America is a cosignatory to the Oslo Accord and this would seriously undermine it."
2011-08-31 00:00:00
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