Palestinian President Abass has been awaiting to see this expected Israeli offer before making the decision whether and/or how to proceed with their push for statehood at the U.N. see: NY Times reports Palestinians may bypass UN Security Council & go to General Assembly
Now P.M. Netanyahu as presented his government's offer to Palestinian Leaders.
Netanyahu: Israel will agree to upgrade of Palestinian status, not statehood
Netanyahu decides to address the UN General Assembly next Friday, the day the Palestinians will submit their statehood bid.
By Barak Ravid
Israel would agree to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's status at the United Nations as long as it is not declared a state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in talks with Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, over the past few days.
In the meanwhile Prime Minister Netanyahu's Froeign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is badgering the Europeans to vote Israel's way.
Meanwhile, the Foreign ministry summoned the ambassadors of five key EU members Thursday to rebuke them over their countries' policy on the Palestinians' bid for UN recognition as a state.
Will Lieberman's rebukes make the Europeans more likely to tow Netanyahu's line at the U.N.? Sounds like a typically arrogant way to gain their cooperation by the thuggish Avigdor Lieberman.
Netanyahu is scheduled to speak at 2 A.M. Israel time, a few hours after PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
U.S. President Barack Obama is to be in New York at the same time Netanyahu is there, but no meeting has been scheduled between the two.
Since all of this is unfolding so rapidly, Obama not planning a meeting with Netanyahu can't be interpreted as a snub by the President, something that would be sure to trigger an uproar by the Israel Lobby in less hastily arranged circumstances.
Netanyahu continued his talks with U.S. envoys Dennis Ross and David Hale on Thursday, as well as Ashton and Quartet envoy Tony Blair, in an attempt to reach a compromise that would prevent an Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the UN. But no breakthrough was made, and the PA's appeal to the United Nations next week is regarded as inevitable.
Will Netanyahu's new offer have enough substance to persuade the Palestinian Authority to forgo their bid for full statehood at the U.N.? Given Netanyahu's implacable opposition to a Palestinian State in any form in the books he wrote in the 1990s, and Bibi's suggestion at last year's peace talks that the establishment of a Palestinian State should take a process lasting up to 30 years, the Palestinians may be very reluctant to take Bibi's upgraded status offer. Considering the source of the offer my own best guess is that its pretty stingy.
Israel could drag out peace deal over decades
However, Mr Netanyahu is reportedly is hoping that the agreements reached under an accord would be phased in stage-by-stage over as much as 30 years.
No matter what kind of reception Netanyahu's new offer gets from the Palestinian Leaders, this will create some high drama at the United Nations on Friday of next week.
I was going to add a poll but that feature doesn't seem to be working.