RAMALLAH: The Palestinians will ask the UN Security Council in the coming days to condemn Israeli settlement construction, a senior Palestinian official said Wednesday, part of a growing Palestinian campaign to rally international pressure against Israel with peace efforts deadlocked. The move reflects growing Palestinian discontent with US efforts to broker a peace agreement by next September. American-mediated talks have been stalled for more than three months, in large part because of disagreements over Israeli settlement construction on captured lands claimed by the Palestinians. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that shortly after the New Year the Palestinians' Arab allies would present a resolution that will “declare that the Israeli settlement building is illegal and must be stopped immediately.” Palestinian officials acknowledge that such moves will have little immediate impact on the ground. Instead, they say they want the world to send a tough message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom they believe is not serious about pursuing peace. Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that the Palestinians expect wider recognition of their statehood in the coming year and it will mean more than the mere “Facebook state” predicted by an Israeli minister. Fayyad said recognition by many countries would “enshrine” the Palestinians' right to a state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Seventeen years of peace efforts had failed to deliver this promise, he told reporters. The current Israeli coalition's stated commitment to a two-state solution could not be relied on “given the erosion that has taken place”, he said.Domino effect Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador announced recognition of Palestinian statehood in the past month. Chile, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua are reported to be weighing the same move. “These are welcome developments,” Fayyad said. He declined to comment on what countries might act and when. But he said there was a growing intrenational consciousness that it was time for Israeli occupation to end and for the political process to deliver.
