Early Monday morning, Salam Fayyad, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Ehud Barak, minister of defense and deputy minister of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, had a brief meeting to discuss the topic of Palestinian statehood, as well as security issues. The meeting came in an effort to calm Israeli sentiment as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the United States to take his statehood bid to the UN. Abbas has been warned by Israel and the US that the bid might spark what is being described as a “very difficult situation in the Middle East.” By threatening to veto the bid in the UN Security Council, the US is working to prevent Abbas from applying for recognition. At the same time though, the US advised Netanyahu not to sanction the Palestinian Authority following the bid for statehood. US President Barack Obama stated that if Israel suspends security cooperation with the PA, it might have a backlash. Sanctioning the PA might prompt it to collapse; disabling the PA as the mediator between Israel and other Palestinian groups it is currently. This would leave the complete responsibility of the occupied territories at the hands of Israel. Working via “softer” means to push Abbas from his statehood bid, Netanyahu was reported to have agreed to compromises on the wording of Israel as a Jewish state. The exact content of the compromise proposal is unclear, but Palestinian sources were reported to have denied settling for the compromise, as it did not sufficiently meet their demands. Abbas remains determined to fulfill his request to the UN, as he does not trust the peace negotiations, which have been stagnant and unfruitful for the past 20 years. Neither the granted rights for recognition, return or self-determination of the UN resolution 194 or of the Oslo Accords have been fulfilled, and have not yet led to the recognition and UN membership of a Palestinian state. BM
