The Palestinians want US efforts to salvage the peace process to continue, a senior official said on Wednesday, just hours after they renewed controversial moves to seek international recognition.
“We hope (US Secretary of State John) Kerry’s efforts will be renewed in the coming days,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine liberation Organisation’s executive committee, told reporters in Ramallah. “Kerry knows the reality. We don’t want these efforts to finish.”
late Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said he had begun steps to join 15 UN agencies, angering Israel and prompting Kerry to cancel a trip to Ramallah on Wednesday.
The announcement was a blow to Kerry’s frenetic efforts to resolve a dispute over Palestinian prisoners and find a way to extend the fragile peace talks beyond a looming April 29 deadline. Abed Rabbo said the Palestinian move was “a response to Israel’s flagrant violation of the agreement” under which it would release prisoners if the Palestinians refrained from seeking further UN recognition.