Palestine on course for clash with U.S. over his bid for UN recognition

PanARMENIAN.Net - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas remained on course for a clash with the United States over his bid for UN recognition despite President Barack Obama's warnings there is "no shortcut" to peace.

Hopes remained that a statement by the international powers could bring Palestinians and Israelis back to direct talks, but a hard-hitting speech by Obama and a personal meeting with Abbas failed to sway the Palestinian leader from a vow to make an application for membership on Friday, September 23.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy launched his own bid to ease tensions by calling for the Palestinians to get observer state membership of the UN as a prelude to new talks.

The United States has vowed to veto any request by the UN Security Council for backing for membership, potentially sparking a new Middle East crisis. Tens of thousands of Palestinians took part in rallies to back Abbas on Thursday.

But Israel and the United States insist that only direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations can set up a peace deal that could lead to the creation of a new state.

"I am convinced that there is no shortcut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades," Obama told the UN General Assembly.

He did not mention the US threat to veto the issue at the Security Council, but said: "Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN -- if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now."

Obama insisted the Israelis and Palestinians must sit down to "reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and Jerusalem."

For Obama, the confrontation is an embarrassment as 12 months ago he stood at the UN assembly and called for Palestinian membership of the United Nations within a year.

Obama said he believed then and now "that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own." But he added Israel must also have cast-iron security guarantees because of the threat from "neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it."