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Israel, US race to avert Palestinian UN bid

02 August 2011 21:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Israel is working with the United States to find a way to revive peace negotiations with the Palestinians in a desperate attempt to avert a diplomatic showdown at the U.N. next month, an Israeli official confirmed Tuesday, APA reports siting news.yahoo.com webpage.
The talks, meant to provide a framework for negotiations, are focusing on two of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the borders between Israel and a future Palestine, and Israel’s demand that the Palestinians recognize the country as the Jewish homeland.
Israel and the U.S. are making a painstaking effort to find language acceptable to all sides, the official said. While he said Israel is ready to show "flexibility" on the border issue, he acknowledged there was no imminent sign of a breakthrough. Palestinian officials said they were unaware of any new proposals.
Peace talks have been mostly stalled for nearly three years, and the Palestinians refuse to resume negotiations while Israel continues to build settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim both areas, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for their future state.
In the absence of a negotiated peace deal, the Palestinians plan to ask the United Nations to recognize their independence next month. The vote would be symbolic, but the Palestinians nonetheless hope it will isolate Israel and improve their negotiating position in the future.