The Palestinians are already facing financial sanctions even before going to the United Nations seeking statehood recognition and membership, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday, according to dpa. The US and Israel, which are strongly opposed to the Palestinians' UN bid, have threatened to impose financial sanctions on the Palestinian Authority if it proceeds with its plans to seek UN recognition in September. They say it is a unilateral act that aims to isolate Israel and would undermine negotiations. "We might be punished with [further] financial sanctions," said Abbas, speaking at a gathering of Muslim religious officials in Ramallah, in the West Bank. "We do not want to starve our people or make life difficult for them. But what else can we do. We cannot just give up. We are already facing financial sanctions, which we hope will be lifted," he said. He was referring to the financial crisis the Palestinian Authority is currently facing, which forced it to delay payment of salaries to more than 150,000 public service employees. It currently needs at least 300 million dollars. "Our decision to go to the Security Council does not aim to isolate Israel, nor to confront the United States, rather to achieve our dream of recognition of our sovereign Palestinian state on the territories occupied since 1967, which is only 22 per cent of the area of historic Palestine," he said. Abbas said that neither Israel, nor the US, have offered anything to salvage negotiations and the peace process. "The Government of Israel and the US offered us absolutely nothing that would allow us to resume negotiations," he said. "All they offered was more settlements and Judization, day after day. So when we felt that the road of reasonable, acceptable and legitimate negotiations is close, we said we are going to the UN." Abbas said that going to the UN does not mean an end to negotiations rather it would enhance negotiations by confirming their terms of reference.
