MIDDLE EAST: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warns of serious consequences over any unilateral bid by the Palestinians for statehood in the United Nations General Assembly

Record ID: 644129

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warns of serious consequences over any unilateral bid by the Palestinians for statehood in the United Nations General Assembly
  • Date: 15th September 2011
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 14, 2011) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS' HOUSE DECORATED WITH LARGE FLAG READING "UN PALESTINE STATE 194" CLOSEUP OF ABBAS PICTURE ON FLAG WIDE OF BUILDING WITH FLAG HERZLIYA, ISRAEL (SEPTEMBER 14, 2011) (REUTERS) WIDE OF UN SPECIAL CO-ORDINATOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST ROBERT SERRY ADDRESSING 'THE WORLD SUMMIT ON COUNTER-TERRORISM' (SOUNDBITE) (English) UN SPECIAL CO-ORDINATOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST ROBERT SERRY SAYING: "We all have come to the conclusion, actually already back in April when we met in Brussels, that the Palestinians have turned around, they have crossed the threshold for readiness for statehood in a number, quite a number of areas, including in security." PARTICIPANTS LISTENING TO ADDRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UN SPECIAL CO-ORDINATOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST ROBERT SERRY SAYING: "I hope also that we are not gong to over dramatize what may happen in New York. I feel that it is now too late to stop the Palestinian train, so to say, which is on its way to New York. I do believe, also based on my contacts with the Palestinians, that they will seek to enhance their status." PEOPLE LISTENING TO SERRY JERUSALEM (SEPTEMBER 14, 2011) (REUTERS) ISRAEL FOREIGN MINISTER AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN SHAKING HANDS WITH EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF CATHERINE ASHTON
  • Embargoed: 30th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem, Israel, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5VXA1H4IJL2DNM48XNVX48DT2
  • Story Text: The Israeli Foreign Minister warned on Wednesday (September 14), of serious consequences if the the Palestinians continue with their planned bid for statehood in the United Nations General Assembly next week.
    According to the United Nations Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East, Robert Serry, the Palestinian Authority has reached the levels needed for statehood in a number of areas.
    "We all have come to the conclusion, actually already back in April when we met in Brussels, that the Palestinians have turned around, they have crossed the threshold for readiness for statehood in a number, quite a number of areas, including in security," said Serry.
    The United Nations Envoy added that he believed the Palestinian bid within the General Assembly was now inevitable,
    "I hope also that we are not gong to over dramatize what may happen in New York. I feel that it is now too late to stop the Palestinian train, so to say, which is on its way to New York. I do believe, also based on my contacts with the Palestinians, that they will seek to enhance their status," Serry said.
    The United States, who last week said that it will veto any statehood resolution brought before the Security Council, continued it's diplomatic efforts to dissuade the Palestinians from making the bid. Senior U.S. envoys will visit the Middle East this week to try to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the United States said on Tuesday (September 13).
    The mission by U.S. Middle East peace envoy David Hale and senior White House aide Dennis Ross appears to be a last-ditch push to dissuade the Palestinians from seeking to upgrade their U.N. status this month, a step Israel strongly opposes.
    The European Union, who's support for the Palestinian bid is said to be divided, sent Foreign Policy Chief, Catherine Ashton to the region where meetings were held with Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas in Cairo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Jerusalem.
    Lieberman, earlier in the day before meeting with Ashton, warned of serious consequences if the Palestinians continued with the UN bid.
    "There is no room for threats, but I can say confidently that if they pass a unilateral decision, this will have serious and severe consequences and I hope we will not reach these consequences," said Lieberman during an address at an agricultural conference.
    Israeli Civil Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai thinks the Palestinian Authority is split, with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Abbas disagreeing over the UN decision.
    "Something will happen, nobody knows yet to say what. In the Palestinian Authority there are great differences of opinion between Foreign (means Prime) Minister Fayyad on the one hand and Abu Mazen, the President, on the other hand. Nobody knows how those differences will be resolved. You are all aware of the lively diplomatic activities that exist at these very moments across the world in order to minimize potential damages that can be caused by a declaration of Palestinian statehood. The Palestinians are making a big mistake and they understand that and therefore there is an argument because of the thinking that, via the United Nations they will achieve something. They will not achieve anything," Vilnai said during a meeting with an Israeli Major-General.
    The Palestinians are now U.N. observers without voting rights. To become a full member, their bid would have to be approved by the U.N. Security Council.
    Rather than seeking full U.N. membership, they could seek upgraded status as a "non-member state," which would require a simple majority of the 193-nation assembly.
    The United States, however, said it would not favour this model either. Another possibility would be to propose a resolution to the General Assembly that might give greater backing to their desire for a state but not actually call for upgrading the Palestinians status at the United Nations.
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