News
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Statehood recognition from UNSCObama rejects Palestinian bid
* US president says peace will not come through resolutions at UN
* Palestinians deserve a state, but Israel deserves security
UNITED NATIONS: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday rejected Palestinian plans to seek UN blessing for statehood and urged a return to peace talks with Israel as he tried to head off a looming diplomatic disaster.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Obama insisted Middle East peace “will not come through statements and resolutions” at the world body and put the onus on the two sides to break a yearlong impasse.
“There is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace is hard work,” Obama told an annual gathering of world leaders.
Obama sought to reassure Palestinians he was not abandoning his pledge to help them achieve eventual statehood while also placating any Israeli concerns about Washington’s commitment to their security.
The Obama administration says that only direct peace talks can lead to peace with the Palestinians, who in turn say almost two decades of fruitless negotiation has left them no choice but to turn to the world body.
Obama followed his speech with a round of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who echoed the president’s assertion that renewed negotiations were the only path to a peace deal but offered no new ideas how to get back to the table. He said, however, that the Palestinians’ UN statehood effort “will not succeed.”
Signalling European patience was also wearing thin after years of halting US-led diplomacy, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed an ambitious timetable to resume peace talks within a month and achieve a definitive deal in a year.
Taking note of deep frustrations over lack of progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front, Obama said, “Israelis must know that any agreement provides assurances for their security. Palestinians deserve to know the territorial basis of their state.”
The speech offered no new prescriptions for Israeli-Palestinian peace from Obama, who laid out his clearest markers for a final deal in May and angered Israel by declaring its pre-war 1967 borders as the starting point for any future negotiations.
Obama, during the speech, said it was time for the UN Security Council to sanction Syria for using deadly violence against citizens who are rising up against the authoritarian government there.
“There is no excuse for inaction,” he said.
Obama said the US and many of its allies had joined to punish Syria. He said that on this issue the world must speak with one voice.
Obama also said that the US and its coalition partners had begun a transition in Afghanistan, drawing down their troops between now and 2014 and turning over the responsibility to the Afghan government. “The tide of war is receding,” the president said. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk