The Palestinian Authority began consultations with Arab countries over the phrasing of a request for UN non-member status, as the possibility of a resumption of US-backed peace negotiations remains at a deadlock, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday.
Speaking to US, UK and Danish officials, Erekat insisted that the unilateral strategy at the UN would not harm the peace process, but would rather compliment it, Palestinian news agency Ma\’an reported.
"[Israel has] always tried and are still trying to change the rules of the peace process and limit the PA’s role to security and economic tasks only," Ma\’an quoted Erekat as saying.
Erekat also told China\’s Xinhua state news agency via telephone that US President Barack Obama did not ask the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations with Israel, hinting that the Palestinian were advancing their cause at the UN while the US remains uninterested in backing talks.
"The United States stance toward the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel hasn\’t changed," Erekat said. "The United States wants the unconditioned resumption of the talks." The Palestinians have continued to insist upon a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank as a precondition to resuming peace talks. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has declared his willingness to resume the peace process without precondition, saying he would even travel to Ramallah to meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Speaking at the UNGA on Thursday, Abbas declared that he had begun intensive consultations with various regional organizations and UN member states aimed at having the General Assembly adopt a resolution granting a Palestinian state the status of non-member.
He added that the PA continued to believe in negotiations with Israel, and that “there is still a chance – maybe the last – to save the two-state solution and to salvage peace.”