Abbas to seek broader peace process in rare UN speech, officials say

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will call for an alternative to US-mediated negotiations with Israel, during a rare address to the United Nations Security Council tomorrow, according to Palestinian officials.

In a statement ahead of the visit, Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, tells state media a “new phase of struggle has started,” as they seek to protect their claim to Jerusalem.

Senior Palestinian official Nasser al-Qudwa says that Abbas would be looking to gain support for a multilateral initiative, but added that the Palestinians would not dictate what shape it would take.

“We can live with different formats, the P5, P5+1, expanded Quartet, we can live with an international peace conference,” Qudwa tells a news conference in Ramallah. “Anything that can do the job, provide a reasonable basis for negotiation and follow up the process — sponsor it until it successfully concludes.”

— AFP