Abbas: UN nod would give Palestinians leverage

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinians are seeking U.N. recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem this fall in hopes it will give them more leverage in negotiations with Israel, the Palestinian president wrote in a newspaper opinion article published Tuesday.

With such recognition, "Palestine would be negotiating from the position of one United Nations member whose territory is militarily occupied by another ... and not as a vanquished people ready to accept whatever terms are put in front of us," Mahmoud Abbas wrote in The New York Times, presenting his most detailed explanation yet of his reasons for the U.N. bid.

A U.N. admission would also "pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one," Abbas wrote, saying this could lead to legal claims against Israel, including at the International Court of Justice.

Although international recognition wouldn't immediately change the situation on the ground, it would isolate Israel and put additional pressure on it to withdraw from occupied territories.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano told Abbas during a visit Monday that Italy would join several other European countries in upgrading Palestinian representation to a diplomatic mission, just short of a full-fledged embassy.

A former Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Gabriela Shalev, told Army Radio on Tuesday that she foresaw "an apocalyptic scenario" of increasing diplomatic isolation, and possible cultural, political and economic sanctions of the kind exercised against apartheid South Africa, should the Palestinians go through with their unilateral declaration.

Israel, she said, has to "show that we candidly want to return to direct negotiations with the Palestinians and do what the prime minister himself spoke about, make painful concessions," Shalev said, without elaborating.

The Palestinian leader has repeatedly said reaching statehood through negotiations with Israel remains his first choice. However, he has said he cannot resume talks as long as Israel continues to expand settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, thus establishing facts on the ground and pre-empting the outcome of negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slowed West Bank construction for 10 months last year, but rejected international demands for a complete freeze. Netanyahu has accused Abbas of setting preconditions by refusing to return to talks without a construction stop. About half a million Israelis have moved to lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.