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Monday, December 23, 2024  
20 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

Palestinians to proceed with UN recognition bid

The Palestinians will move ahead with their quest to win U.N. recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said, rebuffing U.S. President Barack Obama's warning that such a move would be pointless.

The aide, Nabil Shaath, spoke after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a White House meeting Friday, rejected Obama's call to use the pre-1967 war lines as the basis for border talks with the Palestinians. In that war, Israel captured the territories the Palestinians want for their state.

Shaath and another Abbas aide, Saeb Erekat, said late Friday that Netanyahu's statements make it clear the Israeli leader is not a partner for peace, suggesting there is no point in returning to negotiations.

"I don't think we can talk about a peace process with a man who says the 1967 lines are an illusion, that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel, undivided, and he does not want a single (Palestinian) refugee to go back," Erekat said. "What is left to negotiate about?"

Abbas has not given a formal response to the parameters for a peace deal Obama laid out in a Mideast speech on Thursday. He is consulting by phone with Arab leaders, plans to meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II later Saturday and then convene the leaders of the PLO and his Fatah movement later in the week before giving a response, Erekat said.

Abbas has instructed aides not to comment.