The Palestinian Authority on Thursday welcomed the
Arab League’s decision to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines as a “very important step.”
Nabil
Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, described the
Arab League decision, which was announced in Doha, Qatar, as a
“diplomatic offensive” that would form the basis for Palestinian and
Arab moves.
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Lieberman: Unilateral steps require unilateral responsesThe decision was announced following a meeting in Doha of Arab League
foreign ministers that was also attended by Abbas and a number of senior
PA officials.
A communiqué issued by the Arab League said that it has decided to ask
the UN to recognize a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its
capital and upgrade its status as full member of the international
organization.
The Arab ministers also decided to entrust the Arab group at the UN to
prepare for this move by taking the necessary legal measures and
following up all efforts and contacts related to this issue, the
communiqué said.
A PA official in Ramallah said that Abbas was planning to visit a number
of EU countries in the coming days to try to persuade them to support
the statehood bid at the UN.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Arab ministers decided
to send letters to the countries that still haven’t recognized the
Palestinian state asking them to do so ahead of the UN vote in
September.
He expressed hope that the US would refrain from vetoing the statehood
bid, noting that the Arab ministers had unanimously backed the PA plan.