Palestinians Make Statehood Bid At UN

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has submitted his bid to the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state. To rapturous applause in the General Assembly, he urged the Security Council to back a state with pre-1967 borders. He said the Palestinians had entered negotiations with Israel with sincere intentions, but blamed the building of Jewish settlements for their failure. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was reaching out to Palestinians and blamed them for refusing to negotiate. “I continue to hope that President Abbas will be my partner in peace,” he said.

Lisa Mullins gets more from the BBC’s Kim Ghattas at the United Nations

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. Today, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made it official. He formally asked the United Nations to recognize Palestine as a full member state. Abbas then addressed the UN General Assembly. Here he is speaking through a translator.

PRESIDENT ABBAS: Mr. President, the heart of the crisis in our area is very, very simple and obvious. Either there is those who believe that we are an unnecessary people, unwanted people in the Middle East, or those who believe that there is in fact a missing state that needs to be established immediately.

MULLINS: Later it was Israel’s turn to address the General Assembly. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the delegates that Palestinian statehood must be preceded by new talks.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: The truth is that Israel wants peace. The truth is that I want peace. The truth is that we cannot achieve peace through UN resolutions, but only through direct negotiations between the parties. The truth is that so far, the Palestinians have refused to negotiate. The truth is that Israel wants peace with a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians want a state without peace. And the truth is you shouldn’t let that happen.

MULLINS: After the speeches, the US and other members of the quartet mediating group seemed to back the Israeli position. In a statement, they urged Israelis and Palestinians to meet within the next month to agree on an agenda for resumed peace talks. The BBC’s Kim Ghattas is at the United Nations. She says Abbas and Netanyahu struck a similar note today.

KIM GHATTAS: They both said they were ready for peace talks. But of course they’re coming at this from very different perspectives. The Palestinian President, who got, I have to say, a very warm welcome at the General Assembly, rousing applause, a full house for his speech. He said that he was ready for peace talks, but it had to be on the basis of a clear timeframe, a clear framework, and it could only happen after Israel stopped building settlements. He was very animated, more energized than I’ve really ever seen him. And he was really able to express the frustration that Palestinians have felt over the last two years, as American efforts faltered in trying to get the peace process off the ground. Now, Mr. Netanyahu, as I said, also said that he was ready for peace talks. He said that he was ready to travel to Ramallah to meet President Abbas. Even better, he said, let’s meet here today, at the United Nations. He said Israel was ready for peace, but he says the Palestinians are still refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Mr. Netanyahu also said that settlements were not at the core of the conflict, they were a result of the conflict. So there is still quite a big gap between those two sides.

MULLINS: OK, and what happens next?

GHATTAS: Well, now that President Abbas has given his application to the Secretary General, it’s in the hands of the Security Council. They will study the request, and they will determine at the some point in the coming weeks whether this should come to a vote or not. We all know that the Americans have said they will veto this if it comes to a vote, or otherwise they will try to make sure that there are enough abstentions at the Security Council that in essence, a resolution on this just dies on the table. But in the meantime, it’s important to point out that all week long, while the Americans and the Europeans were trying to convince the Palestinians not to go to the UN, they were also trying to make sure that whatever happened at the United Nations, that this could possibly be inscribed in the wider context of resumption of negotiations. They’ve been lobbying very hard behind the scenes, trying to see whether it’s possible to bridge the gap between the two sides. It’s not clear yet whether they’ve managed to pull it off.

MULLINS: All right, the BBC’s Kim Ghattas reporting from the New York, at the United Nations. Thank you.

GHATTAS: Thank you for having me.

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