Justice Minister Tzipi Livni
Justice Minister Tzipi LivniFlash 90

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is wasting precious time, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told NPR’s Robert Siegel on Tuesday.

"Instead of following the path of negotiations which would have enabled the creation of a Palestinian state, Abbas is now going to spend years on his demand for the UN to set a date for statehood,” she said in the interview, according to excerpts published on her Facebook page.

"Abbas should have opted for the American framework document which would have led him to a Palestinian state," she said, adding that the international and regional cooperation against Islamist terrorism can generate new opportunities "and we should concentrate on that."

Abbas has announced his intention to lobby the United Nations to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria, a unilateral move which is in direct violation of the Oslo Accords. The move has received the backing of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

In 2012, the PA unilaterally turned to the United Nations and received recognition as a non-member observer state by the General Assembly.

Since then, the PA has threatened several times that if peace talks fail, it would turn to international institutions and seek to sue Israel in the International Criminal Court.

In April, the PA requested to join 15 international agencies in breach of the conditions of the peace talks that were going on with Israel at that time.