RAMALLAH: The West Bank Palestinian leadership formally decided to press ahead with efforts in September to win UN recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east occupied Jerusalem, in what could be a blow to efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The leadership, made up of the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision-making body and officials of the Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government in the West Bank, said in a statement Sunday that the goal was to bring a state of Palestine into the family of nations of the world. It approved the approach in principle, according to the statement, without adding operative steps about how to follow on from recognition. The idea of asking the UN General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state inside the cease-fire lines that held until the 1967 Mideast War is a reflection of Palestinian frustration with stalemated peace talks with Israel. In recent weeks, however, Palestinian leaders have been giving signs of backing away from the initiative and toward softening their position over the renewal of peace negotiations, as both the UN initiative and their drive to set up a unity government with the rival Hamas in Gaza have foundered. Some Palestinians believe that contrary to the notion that UN recognition would stymie peace talks, such world status would force Israel to make concessions when negotiations resume. Recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN General Assembly would carry considerable diplomatic weight but would not carry legal clout. Only the UN Security Council can add a nation to the world body, and the US government has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the move, while stopping short of saying it would veto such a resolution. Israel has denounced the Palestinian UN initiative, charging that it torpedoes efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. President Barack Obama has offered a formula under which a Palestinian state would be set up with borders based on the pre-1967 war cease-fire lines that delineate the West Bank, with agreed upon swaps of territory between the two sides. Previous Israeli governments have agreed to the concept, but that did not result in a peace accord. The current Israeli leadership, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has reacted coolly to the Obama proposal. Netanyahu has rejected an Israeli withdrawal from all of the West Bank and wants to retain Israeli control of east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians as their capital. Israel pulled out of Gaza unilaterally in 2005.
