Palestinians won't accept vote delay on UN bid

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Palestinians won't accept vote delay on UN bid

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Palestinians plan to submit their letter of application on Friday when Abbas is to speak to the UN.

22 September,2011 10:12 am

A top Palestinian official said Wednesday that President Mahmoud Abbas would accept no political delays on his bid for membership in the United Nations, rejecting mounting pressure from the United States and France to first return to negotiations with Israel.The Palestinians plan to submit their letter of application on Friday when Abbas is to speak to the U.N. General Assembly, but he faced a withering lack of support as the world body opened its annual meeting. President Barack Obama said there could be no shortcuts in the quest for Middle East peace, a message that was echoed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.Sarkozy proposed a one-year timetable Wednesday for Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peace accord, part of a concerted push with the United States to steer the Palestinians away from an application for U.N. membership. Sarkozy spoke shortly after Obama warned against action on the Palestinian bid before there was a peace agreement. He said negotiations, not U.N. declarations, were essential to a lasting peace.While Obama stopped short of calling directly for the Palestinians to drop their bid for full membership an effort the U.S. has vowed to veto in the Security Council It remained unclear whether the latest proposal would be enough to avert a showdown over statehood that has consumed the U.N. over the past few days and sparked a frenzy of last-minute diplomatic door-knocking by the Israelis and the Palestinians, as well as a flurry of discussions between the Quartet of Mideast negotiators the US, the EU., the UN and Russia.But the proposal outlined by Sarkozy received a warmer welcome from the Palestinians than Obamas comments.Obama was scheduled to meet later Wednesday with Abbas. He met earlier in the day with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.With Obama at his side, the Israeli premier said the Palestinian bid to appeal directly to the UN was a short cut that will not succeed. Netanyahu also lauded Obama for speaking up on principle.The issue of Palestinian statehood has gained new momentum in the Arab world amid the so-called Arab Spring uprisings that have ousted the leaders of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya and laid the still rocky foundations for a new era of freedom and democratic nations in a region dominated by dictators, monarchs and other entrenched regimes.