PA negotiator denies delay in bid for UN recognition

The Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator has denied media reports that the PA might delay its bid for United Nations recognition for an independent Palestinian state. According to Saeb Erekat, who is also a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, “The Palestinian recognition train has already left the station and is heading toward New York.”

Following separate meetings with America’s Consul General in Jerusalem Daniel Rubinstein, and Spanish Consul General Alfonso Portable, Erekat added that reports on US offers or talks with the Obama Administration about compromises or formulas for the resumption of negotiations are completely untrue. He also said that there is no contradiction between the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s quest for full UN membership for a Palestinian state along 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the efforts exerted for the resumption of the peace process.

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Dr Erekat called on the European Union and the US Administration to commit the Israeli government to stop all settlement activities, including those in occupied Jerusalem, and to accept the two-state solution along the borders of June 4, 1967.