Palestinians might freeze UN bid if US, Israel release funds

Palestine's bid for full UN membership is almost 'doomed' The Palestinian Authority has offered the United States a deal, saying it would freeze all moves to achieve full membership for "Palestine" in various UN agencies until the end of January, a European diplomat said, while the United States and Israel would resume transferring it funds.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's special envoy Isaac Molho met secretly in London on Tuesday with U.S. administration representatives David Hale and Dennis Ross to discuss the suggestion.
According to a European diplomat whom the PA had updated about the proposal, the PA plans to complete the process of trying to get full UN membership for Palestine recognised by the Security Council. PA President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to ask for a vote by the end of December, although the move is doomed to defeat. Even if the Palestinians muster enough votes, the United States will veto it.
Other than that, however, the Palestinians are prepared to suspend their efforts to achieve full membership in such agencies as the World Health Organisation and the World Trade Organisation, the diplomat said. Nor will they ask the General Assembly to upgrade their observer status to non-member observer state.
Though the Palestinians offered to temporarily suspend these UN efforts, if a deal is struck that restores the PA's cash flow, it is thought such moves will be stopped for the foreseeable future.
Israeli sources confirmed that Molho had met with the U.S. officials in London, while a British source said Molcho also met with a senior Arab figure.
While the Americans view the PA proposal positively, it isn't clear whether Israel will agree to it. Israel is still refusing to transfer the approximately $100 million in taxes it collected for the PA in October.
During an inner cabinet meeting on Monday, Netanyahu had planned to pass a decision to release the funds, but he backed down in the face of opposition from several ministers.
Meanwhile, the status of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in a unity government of Hamas and Fatah remained unclear yesterday. Faisal Abu Shahla, a Fatah MP, said that Fayyad is Abbas' choice for prime minister of the transitional government until the general elections expected in May.
Shahla added, however, that a decision would be made at a Cairo meeting next week between Abbas and the head of Hamas' political bureau, Khaled Meshaal.
Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that he would meet Khaled Meshaal, Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, in Cairo next Wednesday to discuss reconciliation. Abbas called upon Fateh and Hamas to be positive about going forward with the summit. Meanwhile, Hamas appreciated Abbas's statement stating that they hoped words would become action at the summit.
Abbas also called on the United States, in his statement on the seventh anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death and the 23rd anniversary of the Independence Announcement, to deal impartially with all matters, especially when dealing with Israel and its settlement plans.
Abbas said: "We are not after a clash with USA who in spite of its distinguished relationship with Israel, provided outstanding support to the people and the authority of Palestine. We are fairly aware of the importance of the US's role in a serious peace process and hope to see the country as an impartial mediator.        
"We maintain our relationships and communications with President Barack Obama, and seek realisation of the two-state solution on basis of the borders of June 1967," he said.
Regarding Israeli security breaches, he added: "We don't want to detail Israeli breaches on all laws, but I'll recall just one thing - when the Israel blocked our funds two weeks ago as a kind of penalty for going to the UN and UNESCO, which proves Israeli breaches of international law and bilateral treaties and conventions."
He also said that Palestine would never surrender and that it was time to escalate efforts in peaceful resistance and make use of advocates of the Palestinian case and peace activists in Israel itself. In addition he asked supporters of the case to widen the resistance base, especially from the part of outstanding leadership figures and field cadres to support the civil resistance of Palestinian people, which is guaranteed by international law.
"We submitted the application of full membership to the UN and there nothing will stop us as it is a legal right of ours according to all laws, projects and conventions internationally recognised."
He added: "We are open to all choices and will discuss this with the members of leadership as one of the most significant matters on the agenda of my meeting with Meshaal to be on November 23."
"Our hand is still open with peace based on justice and our rights to have an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. At the same time, we don't hope to get lost in the maze of endless negotiations to find ourselves going around in a vicious circle," he said.
Abbas held: "We are peace-seekers and will continue our efforts until we achieve peace and justice. We will repeatedly reject transitional solutions and temporary borders."             
Abbas was fairly decisive concerning the issues of Palestinian prisoners in Israel and the Arab Spring events, saying "We will never sit to negotiate while our people are jailed in Israel." He added: "We are inclined to the Arab peoples, but we take the position of spectators without scattering comments here and there to protect our own interest."
Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, in Gaza appreciated Abbas's keenness on seeing Hamas as an essential composite of the Palestinian people saying: "We appreciate the statement made by Abu Mazen as he reiterated the importance of talks with Hamas represented by Khaled Meshaal in Cairo to discuss the future of Palestine in addition to going forward in the way to reconciliation." But he stressed "everything is mainly dependant on application of what has been said and the final results."
Dr. Salah Al Bardawil, a prominent Hamas member, described Abbas's statement as positive and unconditional on reconciliation. He also added "the statement made by Abbas has many positive points as he addressed the people's resistance as one of the recognised, but not the only, means of resistance...he also stressed the Right of Return as a prior condition for resuming negotiations."
Al Bardawil expressed hopes that the statement would come into fruition so as to ensure Palestinians' safety and achieve real reconciliation between the two parties.