BICOM

US President Barak Obama will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas today, in a bid to avert the Palestinian submission of a formal statehood application to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday. Obama will also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of the effort to avert a crisis at UN on Friday. The US has already stated that it would use its veto, insisting that direct talks alone are the only route to lasting peace.

International efforts are also still underway to prevent the Palestinian statehood bid from being placed before the UNSC by reaching a compromise formula acceptable to the PA. Obama, according to reports, is expected to ask Abbas not to push for a vote in the UNSC where the US has promised a veto, to give Middle East Quartet mediators time to produce a statement that would be the basis for the resumption of peace negotiations. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Quartet Middle East Envoy Tony Blair and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton are currently leading efforts to reach a successful compromise. According to media reports, the emerging proposal is for Abbas to defer the bid for statehood at the UN for a year, after delivering his letter of intent to the UN on Friday. The Quartet -comprised of the US, EU, UN and Russia – would then set a timetable for negotiations based on Israel’s recognition of the 1967 lines as the basis for the borders between itself and a Palestinian state, and Palestinian recognition of Israel’s Jewish character. However, the Quartet is yet to come out with parameters that all parties can agree on for the resumption of the talks.

Obama is also scheduled to address the UN today, where, according to his aides, he will lay out the US view of the “seismic changes” that have been seen around the world in the past year, particularly in the Arab world.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed yesterday for New York, against the background of intense diplomatic efforts to avert the upcoming Palestinian bid at the UN. In a speech to Likud mayors and legislators before leaving, the Israeli PM stressed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had refused repeated requests for a meeting. Netanyahu reiterated his view that the road to peace lies through “direct negotiations and not unilateral decisions.”

Netanyahu’s trip is part of a more general Israeli diplomatic campaign now under way in an effort to prevent the Palestinian side from achieving a majority of nine in the 15-member United Nations Security Council. At this point, however, it is still unclear whether the Palestinians can obtain a nine-member majority in the Security Council. The US is currently investing efforts in preventing a pro-Palestinian majority, which will enable Washington to avoid vetoing the motion.