Arab League backs Palestinian statehood plan

The Arab League has given formal backing for an ambitious bid by the Palestinians for statehood at the United Nations, in a move that is likely to increase the diplomatic pressure on wavering governments in Europe.

Nabil al-Arabi, Arab League secretary-general, said on Thursday that the group had agreed to “submit a call to the member states of the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state”. The league, he added, would press both the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly to support “full membership of a Palestinian state” at the global body.

The move offers crucial support for the Palestinian campaign to gain recognition as an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The most high-profile element of that campaign is the request, expected to be formally tabled in the coming weeks, to join the UN as a full member state.

In addition, the Palestinians are planning to introduce a draft resolution endorsing their statehood bid at the General Assembly in September.

The plan has already been rejected by Israel. It is also opposed by the US, which is widely expected to use its veto power in the Security Council to thwart the Palestinian request.

The US position has triggered mounting anger among senior Palestinian leaders, who are now increasingly looking to governments in Europe for support. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, this week called on the US to “reassess” its veto threat, arguing that it was Israel’s decision to further expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank that was making negotiations impossible.

“We urge the US to stop treating this [Israeli] government as a government above the laws of man,” Mr Erekat said.

Palestinian officials were particularly angered by the US position at a meeting this week of the so-called Middle East quartet, which brings together the US, the UN, the European Union and Russia. According to several officials, the US tabled a draft statement that called, among other things, on Palestinians to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and to accept significant revisions to the pre-1967 Green Line – widely seen as the basis for a future border between Israel and a Palestinian state.

The US proposal runs counter to fundamental Palestinian positions and was also rejected by other Quartet members. The group was ultimately unable to agree on a joint statement, underscoring the deepening international divisions over the Palestinian UN bid.

Some European diplomats are now hoping to persuade the Palestinians to accept a toned-down resolution at the UN, possibly based on a joint statement issued by Britain, France and Germany earlier this year. The statement calls for Jerusalem to be shared as a “future capital of both states” and for a Palestinian state to be created on the basis of the 1967 lines with “equivalent” land swaps.

Such a resolution would not provide for immediate acceptance of a Palestinian state as a UN member. However, European diplomats hope that a toned down text will prevent an embarrassing EU split in September, while ensuring that any pro-Palestinian resolution is adopted by an overwhelming majority in the UN.

It is not clear, however, whether Palestinian leaders can be persuaded to drop their push for full UN membership. Mr Erekat, speaking on Wednesday, said the Palestinians were “open to suggestions”, but insisted that admittance to the UN as a member state was the “only way” to preserve the two-state solution.