Palestinian UN statehood effort "irreversible"

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a meeting of the Central Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in the West Bank city of Ramallah, July 27, 2011. / AP Photo

CAIRO, Egypt — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says efforts to win U.N. recognition for a Palestinian state are "irreversible" and have wide international support, but they don't mean the end of negotiations with Israel.

Abbas was speaking Tuesday to newspaper editors in Cairo following a meeting with Arab foreign ministers, who discussed the Palestinian U.N. initiative. The Arab League offered support for Abbas but said he will determine if he will seek recognition from the General Assembly, or would take the issue to the Security Council. The U.S. and the Israel oppose the move.

Abbas said 126 countries back the initiative. He said it was not a symbolic move, but one that would strength his negotiating position with Israel.

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Meanwhile, the Obama administration is making a final effort to avert a diplomatic crisis over a Palestinian drive to win U.N. recognition as an independent state that threatens to provoke a regional meltdown and further isolate Israel, the top U.S. ally in the Mideast.

The administration's top two Mideast envoys were leaving Tuesday for Israel and the Palestinian territories to try to persuade the Palestinians to drop their U.N. plans and bring both sides back to long-stalled talks. At the same time, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns was visiting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this week in part to seek Arab support for a still-undefined plan that could defuse the situation.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was sending David Hale, the special envoy for Middle East peace, and Dennis Ross, the top Mideast adviser at the National Security Council, to try "to create a sustainable platform for negotiations that can produce the two-state outcome that we seek."

"Our hope is we get the parties back into a frame of mind and into a process where they actually begin negotiating again," Clinton told reporters at the State Department.

The Palestinian bid for recognition comes at a particularly delicate time in the Middle East, especially as it relates to Israel and its neighbors. Once-strong ties between Israel and Turkey have frayed in recent weeks over Israel's refusal to apologize for its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year that killed nine Turks. And, the Jewish state's ties with Egypt have been tested by the weekend attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.

The U.S., which regards all three countries as crucial allies, has moved to try to ease tensions but both Turkey and Egypt are expected to support Palestinian moves at the U.N, which will further strain ties.

[VVoodstock]

is there some reason the Middle East is only a 'forvvard position' to Israel?

[VVoodstock]

maybe?, someone ovghta secvre-it

[EffortPA]

Stop all aid to Israel until they return the lands they occupied after the 1967 war.

[Well_You_Aint_Me]

Why?

Ever heard of "to the victor belong the spoils."? William L. Marcy, 1831

[imnotimportant]

"To the victor belong the spoils," is not permitted under the laws of the United Nations. Israel agreed to this when it became a member.

[destruk3]

Israel should be relocated to the south pacific ocean - I'm sure there are a few islands there and enough of them would equal their controlled area of current day Israel.

[stopoil]

One of the lessons of 911 is that Islamic fundamentalists celebrate events such as 911 as victories of Islam against our way of life. Their goal is to have Islam destroy and replace Western civilization. Palestinians elected the violent fundamentalist Islamic Hamas. Whether it is Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, The Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamic fundamentalists, they are together in seeking to achieve strategic events to strengthen their war against us. Not all Americans appreciate this and also that the defeat of Israel would be a major Islamic victory and therefore is a primary object in their war against us.

Palestinians celebrated in the streets on 911. There is no Palestinian state because Islamic Hamas is committed to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state. Since 1948, Arabs have tried to destroy Israel because it is a not Islamic and a democracy even though an Israeli state was in that location before Islam even existed.

The world has to stop treating Palestinians as victims. The world has to recognize Palestinian's continued aggression against Israel and therefore their continued suffering, as part of a Islamic fundamentalist strategy to turn world opinion against Israel. This is part of their plan of weakening Israel and ultimately defeating Israel. The USA and world needs to stand by Israel and isolate Hamas. There should be a media campaign against the fundamentalist Islamic Hamas and their Islamic agenda. Palestinians have to stop playing the victims and show the world they are ready to join the world community by holding an election and electing a government committed to make peace with Israel. This would be a major defeat against fundamentalist Islam and terrorism and a major step to rid the threat of Islamic extremism against the USA and the West.

[slappy-mcjohnson]

Who is waging a war of attrition against whom?

This should be rich.

Israel is one of our welfare states which takes our welfare with one hand and flips us the bird with the other. If it didn't have a Biblical name, no American would support it.

.

[Sharpyy]

Islamic fundementals have seen the west as the entity that makes deals that steal there resources and paying a dictator all the profit. Heck the USA has done more coups against democratically elected leaders just to get a friendly dictator installed just to get the resources the people be dammed. The west wants control over all just look what happened when Saddam tried to get the Hague involved the USA threatened to pull all funding if they were held to the law! Western extremism to stay rich and keep the Arab people under their heel. Score Card shows the Israelie imbalance "Operation cast lead" 8 dead Israel soldiers to 1200 dead Palistians 243 children and the rest a mix of women & Hamas Soldiers with these numbers you may as well say Hitler was the main victim of the holocaust but that is your arguement?? Israel needs to maintain the high moral standards to keep public opinion on their side, I do not solutions only observations good luck!

[penniner]

If it were a chess match, Abbas would be praised for a masterful move. You can gauge how effective the move will be by how much Israel and the US are trying to prevent it. It serves both the US and Israel right; they have never been serious about negotiating with the Palestinians. They would hold to the status quo as long as possible. Well, the rest of the world is about to demonstrate they strongly disagree with them. And all their money and politics cannot reverse a world-wide consensus. Israel is the abuser here, and everyone knows it.

[askagain]

If the United States vetoes it in the United Nations, it won't happen.

[slappy-mcjohnson]

More proof the UN is full of BS, ask, eh?

[username555-2009]

If the Palestinians are as violent as you say, it is only to defend themselves against their "neighbors", a sadistic group of vicious thugs. The Palestinians must deal with harassment, threats, injustices, and outright theft of family property and farms. As the final vote will show, there are two arrogant countries in this wide world that don't want peace or brotherhood.

[b4uigo]

Yes, yes. And Yassar Arafat was a great peacemaker.

[askagain]

Lets not forget Hamas. They are still determined to destroy Israel.

[imnotimportant]

GOD BLESS Palestinian :)

[askagain]

test

[jmailbox]

Palen-frankendstein, errr... i mean Palestinian doesn't even deserve to be in the UN, they produce nothing.

The country is so poor, the entire reason for a UN memeber is to get free Donated money

[askagain]

Those 125 countries don't have Palestinian missiles lopped into their backyards or Palestinian suicide bombers or Palestinians pledging to drive their people into the sea. Do you call these things peace initiatives? The Palestinians aren't fit for statehood. They are two demented and twisted to have a country of their own.

[Sharpyy]

Palistinians did not lobe any missles Hamas did! But in operation caste lead the IDF killed over 200 children and over 1200 people to 8 Israelies. A kill ratio that should show the gross imbalance here!