Abbas calls for full Palestinian membership in the UN

At meeting with Chilean counterpart, PA president calls on Quartet to take measures to "force Israel to end occupation of our lands."

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
PA President Abbas, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera 311 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
PA President Abbas, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera 311 R
(photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
The time has come for Palestine to become a permanent member of the United Nations, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday, reiterating his opposition to the idea of a state with temporary borders.
He expressed hope that a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines would be declared by September and blamed Israel for the current stalemate in the peace process.RELATED:
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Abbas called on members of the Quartet to take measures that would “force Israel to end its aggression and occupation of our lands.”
Abbas was speaking in Ramallah after meeting with visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.
Chile is one of a number of South American countries that have recognized a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines.
"Our people deserve freedom and independence so that they could live in their homeland like the rest of the people in the world,” Abbas said.
The PA president said that the peace process was facing a crisis because of Israel’s policies and practices “that aim to seize our lands.”
Accusing Israel of working toward unilaterally establishing new facts on the ground, Abbas warned that this was “unacceptable.”
The Palestinians, he stressed, will remain real and full partners to any peace process “despite all the obstacles.”
Abbas said that the time has come for a Palestinian state to become a permanent member of the UN, adding that the PA has completed building state institutions.
He said he still hasn’t heard about Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s proposal for reaching an interim deal with the Palestinians that would include the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders.
However, he declared the PA’s refusal to such an idea. “We know of a proposal that was made in the past,” Abbas said. “If this proposal to establish a state with temporary borders is made again, we will reject it.”
Mohammed Shtayyeh, member of the PA negotiating team, claimed over the weekend that some members of the Quartet were trying to postpone the committee’s meeting, which is scheduled for mid-March, so as to give Netanyahu’s proposed plan a chance to succeed.
“It’s sad that the meeting of the Quartet could be delayed in order to give Netanyahu a chance to present his plan,” Shtayyeh said.


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