The Palestinian Authority is reverting to a language of threats aimed at Israel. Saeb Erekat, who is the PLO official in charge of negotiations with Israel, said in an interview with Al-Ayam newspaper Saturday that the PA is considering asking the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state at the June 4, 1967 borders, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.
He claimed that the PA has raised this idea in diplomatic contacts with members of the Security Council, including the US, and received positive responses.
Erekat called the plan “clear and simple” and said that it would forestall Israel's “unilateral plans” and put a brake on the settlements. If the world recognizes a State of Palestine at June 4, 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital, he said, this would mean that the settlements and other unilateral activity by Israel “would lose all legitimacy.”
The PA is working to enlist support for the plan, he said, and has already enlisted Arab support in the Monitoring Committee which convened in Cairo.
Meanwhile, senior elements in the US Administration told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper Saturday that the US is “in no hurry” to push forward the negotiations between Israel and the PA. The current situation has existed for two decades, they said, and no one expects quick results, therefore patience is required. In any case, the sources said, the Administration is not interested in negotiations for negotiations' sake which would end in failure, but in first creating the right conditions for negotiations.