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SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

U.N. Assembly Looming, U.S. Fails to Sway Palestinians

By JAY SOLOMON

WASHINGTON--Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected the latest U.S. overture aimed at ending his campaign for United Nations Security Council recognition of Palestinian statehood next week, enhancing the likelihood of an Obama administration veto.

For a second straight week, the White House dispatched a two-man diplomatic team to the West Bank in an effort to woo Mr. Abbas back into direct peace negotiations with Israel as an alternative to his U.N. campaign, which Washington says will interfere with the peace process.

The two U.S. officials, White House adviser Dennis Ross and special Middle East envoy David Hale, have tried to work with the international community to sweeten the terms of the prospective peace process for the Palestinians in order to gain Mr. Abbas's consent, according to officials involved in the diplomacy.

One avenue the Americans have pursued is to try to set a one-year time-line to guide a resumption of peace talks, said these officials. Another has been to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept specific terms for the talks; in particular, a willingness to use Israel's borders prior to the 1967 Six-Day War as a baseline for negotiations, with the recognition that there would be additional territorial swaps.

Mr. Abbas said on Friday that the U.S. efforts weren't enough. "We are going to the United Nations to request our legitimate right, obtaining full membership for Palestine in this organization,'' Mr. Abbas said in a televised speech from Ramallah. "We are going to the Security Council."

U.S. and European officials said Mr. Abbas's comments wouldn't end their diplomatic efforts. Many expected a frantic weekend of negotiations in the Middle East and New York, where world leaders will begin to gather for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting.

U.S. officials said they would continue to try to draft a statement on the terms of the peace process in consultations with the so-called Quartet of powers seeking Mideast peace, which includes the U.N., European Union, Russia and U.S.

U.S. officials hope a strong Quartet statement could bind the Israelis and Palestinians into a new round of talks that would start "within weeks" of the General Assembly. The Quartet's members are scheduled to meet Sunday in New York.

"There's going to have to be a process to get these parties back to the table when we get beyond next week," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on Friday.

EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton also has held extensive talks with Mr. Abbas to find an alternative route, according to European officials. Ms. Ashton has pressed the Palestinian leader to return to direct talks, but has also said the Europeans may support a non-binding resolution on Palestinian statehood in the U.N. General Assembly if its terms leave open the possibility for a resumption of the peace process.

A senior European official said Ms. Ashton has told Mr. Abbas that he should back the Quartet's statement with the understanding that the EU would back him at the General Assembly if the direct talks with the Israelis then stall.

U.N. officials said Mr. Abbas could move as early as Monday to submit a statehood proposal to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who would then pass it on to the Security Council.

U.S. officials have repeatedly stated that they will veto such a measure, though the timing for such a vote remains uncertain. Security Council procedures could delay a vote well into October, according to U.N. officials, and deny Mr. Abbas much of the publicity he was seeking for Palestinian statehood. Mr. Abbas is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Friday.

American and European officials privately worry that a U.S. veto could fuel anti-American sentiment across the Middle East and undercut a recent surge of pro-democracy movements in the region.

President Barack Obama will speak at the U.N. on Wednesday and is attending an event highlighting the international effort to topple Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

U.S. lawmakers have threatened to cut financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority if it goes forward with the vote, denying the body as much as $500 million annually. They have also threatened to close the offices of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Washington.

Palestinian officials have also said they could seek a vote in the U.N. General Assembly if its Security Council bid fails. The 192-member Assembly could agree to grant Palestine the status of a nonmember observer state. Only the Vatican now has that status.

The timing of that vote also is uncertain. But a widely expected vote in favor could give the Palestinians more rights at the U.N. and membership of key U.N. and global bodies, such as the U.N. Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

--Laura Meckler in Washington and Joshua Mitnick in Tel Aviv contributed to this article.

Write to Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com