Abbas: UN Bid Does Not Change Willingness to Negotiate With Israel

PNN - Palestine News Network

Barcelona - PNN - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that his plan to seek Palestinian state recognition at the UN in September does not affect his willingness to restart negotiations with Israel, reported Agence France-Presse.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

Abbas is in Spain to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as part of a diplomatic tour to get support for the UN proposal.

"The efforts that we have taken to go to the United Nations in September will not be detrimental to peace nor to negotiations that we want to continue to have," said Abbas.

Talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down last September after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not extend a freeze on construction of Israeli settlements on land Palestine sees as part of its future state.

The settlements are on land taken by Israel during the 1967 war. In May, US President Barack Obama said negotiations should proceed based on a two-state solution using the 1967 lines and "mutually agreed-upon land swaps."

Netanyahu has rejected US and European calls for peace talks based on the 1967 lines calling them "indefensible."

Abbas has said he will abandon the UN bid if Israel agrees to negotiations based on the 1967 lines.