US efforts to prevent Palestinian-UN bid

IMEMC – The United States declared, using its all power, it is seeking to push the Palestinians to re-open direct negotiations with Israel instead of going to the UN, asking for Palestinian statehood recognition, after having waved its threat of veto against the Palestinian bid if the Palestinian leadership is determined to go on its campaign, Qatar-based Aljazeera reported.

“The US is working hard until the last moment to force the Palestinians to restart direct negotiations with Israel, which have been halted since Sep 2010,” The US Department of State spokeswoman, Victoria Noland, stated yesterday.

“The US Administration is working around the clock to push Palestinians restarting direct negotiations with Israel which have been halted due to ongoing Israeli settlement construction,” she added.

The spokeswoman confirmed that the US would make progress regarding the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

“The meeting held between the P.A President, Mahmoud Abbas, and the US envoy in the Middle East, David Hale and Dennis Ross, last Wednesday in Ramallah were constructive and aimed to convince Palestinians rescinding their bid at the UN,” Noland said.

Earlier this week, Washington waved its threat of veto against the Palestinian statehood recognition at the UN Security Council.

Wendy Sherman, designated by the White House to be the third senior official at the US State Department, said that the US administration was extremely clear regarding using the veto if the P.A would file a Palestinian statehood recognition bid at the UNSC. “Washington is working hard to void the Palestinian bid,” she added.
Palestinian senior officials confirmed, after having met with the US envoy, that President, Mahmoud Abbas, is determined to submit the Palestinian statehood bid to the UN.

“The Palestinian delegate to the UN would unveil the way that Palestinians obtain full membership and recognition at UN upcoming Monday,” Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s envoy to the United Nations, told reporters.

Moreover, Mansour stated that the Palestinian leadership would decide regarding the mechanism to be followed to submit its bid to the UN during a meeting with the Arab states in Cairo upcoming Monday.

“130 states of the 193 UNSC members recognized and backed the Palestinian statehood so far. There are several other members would declare their support soon,” Mansour told Al-jazeera in a statement.

However, Palestinians are seeking to obtain UN recognition of an independent Palestinian statehood; the mechanism for the bid still veiled.

Reuters News Agency reported that Palestinians may file their bid to the UN Security Council, at which the US threatened to veto the bid. Or Palestinians may go to the UN General Assembly at which the bid should gain two-thirds majority to pass their bid.

The bid, nevertheless, must gain approval of the UN Security Council and General Assembly together to guarantee a full membership or to be internationally recognized.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, reconfirmed Friday his support for an independent Palestinian state, declaring that whether UN member states recognize the statehood bid.

Earlier this week, China declared its support for the Palestinian bid at UN.