Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Dr. Hanaan Ashrawi, stated that the United States sent a memorandum to countries in the European Union warning of severe consequences against the Palestinian Authority (P.A) should they go ahead with their plan to obtain UN recognition as a nonmember state.Ashrawi said that an American memorandum was sent to several EU countries, and added that the United States will practice pressure on European countries as part of what she called “an American policy that sides with the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians”.
Ashrawi added that the Palestinian rights are inalienable, cannot be given away or abandoned, and added that the Palestinian leadership is acting with the International Community, and is demanding the implementation of international legitimacy resolutions to achieve the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
The official further stated that the Palestinian leadership has been holding talks with different countries in the Arab world, and in different parts around the world, to ensure more international support to the Palestinian bid at the United Nations.
“We are trying to gain memberships in different international originations and agencies”, Ashrawi said, “We are hoping to be able to submit our UN membership bid before the end of this year, there are many suggestions about the timing of the application, but we are trying to gain majority votes; this means we need the support of half of the member states plus one to be admitted to the UN as a nonmember state.”
The Unites States warned that supporting the Palestinian UN bid could lead to several negative consequences that could lead to financial sanctions against the Palestinian Authority.
The Guardian newspaper obtained a copy of the memorandum, and revealed that the United States told European counties that “a Palestinian State can only be established through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians”, and urged the EU to support the American efforts that aim at preventing the Palestinian Authority from heading to the UN.
The Palestinian Authority repeatedly confirmed its commitment to peace in the region, and said that heading to the United Nations is not an act of provocation, and is not meant to isolate Israel, but an attempt to involve the International Community in the efforts to secure a just and comprehensive peace agreement in the region.
Israel claims that it is interested in reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians, without preconditions, but its acts on the ground, especially its ongoing construction and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem, and its ongoing violations, are transforming the Palestinian territories into isolated ghettoes without access to land and natural resources.
The Palestinian territories are already fragmented and isolated due to Israel’s illegal Annexation Wall that separates the residents from their orchards and lands, and due to the ongoing construction and expansion of Jewish–only settlements in the occupied West Bank.
