KAPTAAN
Prime VIP
Washington has launched an
effort to avoid a clash stemming
from plans by Palestinians to seek
recognition as a state at the
United Nations, The New York
Times reported on Saturday,
citing senior U.S. officials and
foreign diplomats.
The Obama administration has
introduced a plan to restart peace
talks with Israel to try to convince
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas to give up the bid to seek
recognition at the annual meeting
of leaders at the U.N. General
Assembly, it said.
The administration has told
Abbas it would veto any request
made to the U.N. Security Council
to make a Palestinian nation a
new member, the Times said.
But it said Washington lacked
support to block a vote by the
Assembly to raise the status of
the Palestinians to a nonvoter
observer state from that of a
nonvoting "entity," which could
allow them to join many U.N.
bodies, and pursue cases against
Israel at the International Criminal
Court.
Senior U.S. officials and foreign
diplomats, whom the Times did
not identify, said the
administration wanted to avoid
having to cast a veto as well as a
General Assembly vote that would
leave only the United States and a
few other nations opposed to
Palestinian nationhood.
"If you put the alternative out
there, then you've suddenly just
changed the circumstances and
changed the dynamic," the
newspaper quoted a senior
administration official as saying
on Thursday. "And that's what
we're trying very much to do."
With peace talks with Israel
frozen, the Palestinians have
vowed to seek full U.N.
membership for a state in the
Gaza Strip and West Bank, with
East Jerusalem as its capital.
The European Union has also
tried to launch a resumption of
peace talks between Israel and
the Palestinians, amid deep
divisions over the proposed bid
for statehood.
The Times said that while some
Obama administration officials
were hopeful a compromise
could be reached to avoid a vote,
there were plans to limit the
consequences if it took place,
including efforts to ensure that
Israel and the Palestinians keep
cooperating on security in the
West Bank and on Israel's
borders.
effort to avoid a clash stemming
from plans by Palestinians to seek
recognition as a state at the
United Nations, The New York
Times reported on Saturday,
citing senior U.S. officials and
foreign diplomats.
The Obama administration has
introduced a plan to restart peace
talks with Israel to try to convince
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas to give up the bid to seek
recognition at the annual meeting
of leaders at the U.N. General
Assembly, it said.
The administration has told
Abbas it would veto any request
made to the U.N. Security Council
to make a Palestinian nation a
new member, the Times said.
But it said Washington lacked
support to block a vote by the
Assembly to raise the status of
the Palestinians to a nonvoter
observer state from that of a
nonvoting "entity," which could
allow them to join many U.N.
bodies, and pursue cases against
Israel at the International Criminal
Court.
Senior U.S. officials and foreign
diplomats, whom the Times did
not identify, said the
administration wanted to avoid
having to cast a veto as well as a
General Assembly vote that would
leave only the United States and a
few other nations opposed to
Palestinian nationhood.
"If you put the alternative out
there, then you've suddenly just
changed the circumstances and
changed the dynamic," the
newspaper quoted a senior
administration official as saying
on Thursday. "And that's what
we're trying very much to do."
With peace talks with Israel
frozen, the Palestinians have
vowed to seek full U.N.
membership for a state in the
Gaza Strip and West Bank, with
East Jerusalem as its capital.
The European Union has also
tried to launch a resumption of
peace talks between Israel and
the Palestinians, amid deep
divisions over the proposed bid
for statehood.
The Times said that while some
Obama administration officials
were hopeful a compromise
could be reached to avoid a vote,
there were plans to limit the
consequences if it took place,
including efforts to ensure that
Israel and the Palestinians keep
cooperating on security in the
West Bank and on Israel's
borders.
