Hilary Clinton To Convince Russia To Support U.S. Stance On Palestinian Statehood Bid
Hillary Clinton and Sergey Lavrov
The United States is attempting to avoid an isolation in the Security Council when it comes to voting against the Palestinian bid for statehood by invited Russia on its side. To that effect, US State Secretary Hillary Clinton met her Russian counterpart, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in an attempt to persuade him to support the American cause of sending Palestinians back to the negotiation table with the Israelis.
Clinton said that an action at the UN Security Council on Palestinian statehood, and a vote on it “would not be productive.” Clinton is said to have dedicated her time during the meeting attempting to convince Lavrov to find a way together to bring Palestinians and Israelis at direct talks again.
The two officials discussed the progresses made by the Quartet on the Middle East, whose representatives made a last-moment attempt to dissuade Mahmoud Abbas from going to the UN with the proposal to have a state recognized.
The members of the Quartet, two of them being USA and Russia themselves, are eager to find a way to make sure that the Palestinians and Israelis have a perfect opportunity to conduct fruitful negotiations, that would result in a resolution of all the issues in debate, and finally in a settlement that would lead to the implementation of the two-state solution.
Both Lavrov and Clinton agreed that the Quartet was on the right track and that its efforts must continue toward finding a solution to this crisis.
In the meantime the Palestinians are determined to introduce their bid for statehood, placing Israel in a delicate position. Israeli daily Haaretz notes that Israeli diplomacy has neglected its activity at the UN thus allowing the unilateral action of the Palestinians to become an international event.
According to the same source, it is impossible to stop the declaration that Mahmoud Abbas is about to make on Friday, but the consequences this declaration will have, commentators say, could have been toned down.
They say that Israel has abandoned UN for almost a year and has not responded to the solid activity of the Palestinian National Authority, making it possible for the Palestinians to build up momentum.
Palestinians have been working for months with their Arab allies to gain support for their cause, while Israel completely ignored their efforts.
Mahmoud Abbas and Benyamin Netanyahu
In an interview to the Israeli Army Radio given on Tuesday, the Israeli ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor said that Israel is ready to commence negotiations with Israel “tomorrow,” and added that there are preparations being made so that the two leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Benyamin Netanyahu, can meet during their presence at the UN.
Israeli ambassador reminded that his country was ready to negotiate without preconditions even “tomorrow morning.”
In turn, Mahmoud Abbas said in New York that he would meet any Israeli official at any moment, but added that it was no use in doing so, if nothing tangible comes out of it.
Netanyahu called the Palestinian president to meet with him in New York. He said that in his opinion the Palestinian bid would fail and that it would use for the Palestinians to “come to their senses.”
The King of Jordan said that before this statehood bid Israel had to decide whether it was part of the Middle East or remained “fortress Israel,” and added, in an interview in New York, that he was not to optimist about Israeli seriousness about the solution of the Palestinian crisis.
Abdullah reiterated his belief that Israel was at the crossroads, in a very critical juncture, and that denying that what was going on had anything to do with it or that it was responsible for the fate of the Palestinians would only make it more difficult to engage in negotiations with the Arab world in the future.
The King also referred to the possibility that the US veto the Palestinian proposal, and said that such an attitude would only complicate things, isolating further both Israel and the United States in a region that is taking a new shape after the Arab spring.
