The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, went to the Middle East this week to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians with the aim of reviving peace talks and averting a Palestinian statehood bid at the UN General Assembly, which begins its annual gathering on 21 September.
The United States has warned that such an attempt would damage the chances of reviving talks and sent envoys to the region this week to lobby the Palestinians.
Israel has also said any such move would put an end to negotiations, which were frozen a year ago in a dispute over Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would address the United Nations next week and urge the Palestinians to negotiate peace with Israel rather than pursue the bid for full UN membership for a Palestinian state.
Diplomats said Ashton was trying to negotiate a package that could include a statement by the Quartet of Middle East negotiators laying out guidelines for future talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
In Brussels, diplomats said her proposal included a text that would not rule out full UN membership for a Palestinian state in the future but focuses for now on a lesser upgrade of their status coupled with a specific mention of talks.
"Our idea is to push for an upgrade of the Palestinian status without excluding full status in the future but with a reference to negotiations," one senior EU diplomat said.
It was not immediately clear whether this would be an upgrading to the status of 'non-member state' observer, as held by the Vatican, or some other formulation.
The Palestinian Authority now has the status of an observer 'entity'.
The United States and Israel object to 'non-member state' status for the Palestinians because this would let them take cases to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
Among ideas under discussion, diplomats said, was giving the Palestinians 'non-member state' status while limiting their ability to launch such legal challenges. Another possibility would be to offer them lower status but to give them some nods in the direction of statehood, including possible direct access to World Bank funding.
In San Francisco US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday there was a "growing recognition" on the part of Israel and the Palestinians that the issues had to be settled in peace talks and that they "will not be resolved if some other route is taken at the United Nations".
The US Congress has threatened to cut the roughly $500 million in annual US aid to the Palestinians, but Israel on Thursday urged the international community to maintain assistance.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Wednesday that there would be "no retreat" from plans to request full UN membership in the absence of talks with Israel.
In Ramallah, Abbas met US Middle East envoy David Hale and senior White House official Dennis Ross, who are also in the region, in an attempt to dissuade him from pursuing the UN path. But the meeting did not appear to make any progress towards resolving differences.
Ashton's role grows
Ashton has played an increasingly active role in the Quartet, which groups the EU, the United States, Russia and the United Nations, since becoming foreign policy chief in December 2009. But her efforts have been complicated by internal divisions in Europe over the Palestinian statehood bid.
Should Palestinian statehood be brought to a vote in the United Nations, the EU's 27 member states could split into three camps, with some opposing the bid, others backing it and several abstaining.
France, in particular, appears to be more receptive to the Palestinian arguments. Germany opposes unilateral declarations without a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
To succeed, Ashton would have to persuade US diplomats to get on board. Washington has said if the Palestinians ignore entreaties and seek full membership status, it will use its veto in the UN Security Council.
EurActiv with Reuters
COMMENTS
The UN should be telling the PA that the UN charter, article 80 forbids it from recognising an Arab state west of the Jordan river. The San Remo treaty specifically excluded Arab political rights west of the Jordan river. The UN is obligated to uphold the Jewish rights to all the land west of the Jordan river. That the UN has failed to uphold any Jewish rights is a disgrace. The UN has lost all credibility.
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