Erekat: PA plans turn to UN to stop settlement expansion

PA chief negotiator blames PM for trying to alter principles of talks; "If Israel made the talks fail, then we will go to the other options."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Erekat 311 (photo credit: AP)
Erekat 311
(photo credit: AP)
Egypt is promoting an Arab initiative by which the Palestinians would turn directly to the UN with demands for statehood and a halt to Israeli expansion of West Bank settlements, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Palestinian news agency Ma'an in an interview on Monday.
Erekat stated that the idea of going to the UN followed the United State's failure to prevent Israel from building in settlements.
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"When we talk about alternatives, this doesn’t mean failing [in the] talks; we want them to succeed," Erekat told Ma'an. "The issue is not easy and negotiation is a tool that is used to solve problems, not a goal in itself. If Israel made the talks fail, then we will go to the other options."
Erekat said that the new Arab initiative's goal was to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza through the implementation of exisiting UN resolutions. He added that ending the occupation had been the original goal of the peace process as well.
The PA official blamed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for trying to alter the basic principles of the peace negotiations. He said that Israel was attempting to undermine the Palestinian Authority and make it just a name.