Abbas: A Palestinian state will be established only with agreement from Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out a unilateral declaration of independence.
"At this stage there is no option to declare a Palestinian state without Israel's collaboration," Abbas said in an interview aired on Al Jazeera television on Saturday. "A Palestinian state will be established only with agreement from Israel."
Abbas said the Palestinians would continue their "political struggle for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital" and would approach the United Nations on the matter by September.
He warned that the collapse of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority could lead to a "popular uprising" or a "Palestinian revolt," but ruled out the possibility of a military conflict with Israel.







The Palestinian president also criticized US President Barack Obama for his failure to put an end to the settlement construction and resolve the Middle East crisis. "They could have done a lot more, but they failed," Abbas said.
He said that during George W. Bush's presidency, Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement under which Israel agreed to return to 1967 borders and to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, but Israel failed to keep its part of the bargain.
In September, US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed after Israel refused to extend a 10-month moratorium over freezing construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Since then, the Palestinians have been trying to get international recognition of their state. In addition to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's statement of recognition of an independent Palestinian state on Tuesday, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have all formally recognized Palestinian independence.
The Palestinian Authority said that Paraguay, Peru, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are expected to announce their support soon.







Meanwhile, Abbas starts Sunday a two-day visit to Egypt for talks with President Hosni Mubarak. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said that the visit is part of "consultations and coordination between Abbas and the Egyptian president at this sensitive stage of the Palestinian issue."
View the original article here