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Sunday 24 July 2011

'Palestine forced to seek UN recognition'

The Palestinian Authority says Israel's refusal to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank has forced Palestinians to seek the UN recognition in the general assembly.


“We are going to the United Nations because we are forced to, it is not a unilateral action," said acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday in a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"We have not been able to return to negotiations with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu because of his refusal to negotiate on the basis of the 1967 borders and to stop settlement," AFP quoted Abbas as saying.

Mahmoud Abbas has travelled to Turkey to rally support ahead of a possible vote at the United Nations in September that may recognize an independent Palestinian state.

Palestinian and Israeli officials returned to the negotiating table in Washington in September 2010, but the talks broke down after Israel renewed settlement construction in the West Bank.

Some analysts believe the resumption of settlement construction in the West Bank is a pre-planned scheme devised by some Israeli lobbies in order to hinder the talks.

The work on settlements in the occupied East al-Quds has drawn international criticism. Israel, however, remains defiant in the face of calls to halt its illegal settlement activities.

"Our first, second and third choice is to return to negotiations," the PA chief said.

"Like the rest of the peoples of the world ... we wish to be members of the General Assembly, members of the UN; no more, no less," he concluded.

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