[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

#1 "one cannot rule out in principle the Security Council option"
#2 "But the establishment of the Palestinian state must be the fruit of
bilateral negotiations" ]

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France: UN Creation of Palestinian State Possible
11/10/2010
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=22632

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The option of the UN Security Council creating a
Palestinian state cannot be ruled out, French Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner has said in a recently published interview.

But he got short shrift from Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
during a meeting Sunday.

Kouchner told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam that France preferred a
two-state solution to be negotiated with Israel, but added that appealing to
the Security Council to resolve the conflict remained a possibility.

"We want to be able to soon welcome the state of Palestine to the United
Nations. This is the hope and the desire of the international community, and
the sooner that can happen the better," he said.

"The international community cannot be satisfied with a prolonged deadlock.
I therefore believe that one cannot rule out in principle the Security
Council option," he said.

"But the establishment of the Palestinian state must come as a result of the
peace process and be the fruit of bilateral negotiations."

Kouchner met with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, on Sunday at the start of a two-day visit to the region with
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

He also met his outspoken Israeli counterpart Lieberman, whose reaction was
characteristically blunt.

"Before coming here to tell us how to solve our conflicts, I would expect
you could have at least solved all the problems within Europe," he said in
comments published in the Israeli media.

"In 1938 the European nations decided to appease Hitler instead of standing
by a loyal ally, Czechoslovakia, and sacrificed her without achieving
anything," he added.

"We don't intend to be the Czechoslovakia of 2010 and we will defend the
fundamental interests of Israel."

Kouchner told reporters the European Union, the largest donor to the
Palestinian Authority, should play a more prominent role in the peace
process.

And later, he stressed the "urgency" that the EU felt for the creation of a
Palestinian state through the current peace talks.

"This is a moment that we do not want to miss," he said ahead of a meeting
with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Following the meeting with the Israeli leader, he was more upbeat.

"Despite the differences of analysis, what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
told us was encouraging," said Kouchner.

The prime minister was still trying to find a way of reaching an agreement
that would satisfy both the Palestinian and Israeli people, he said.

"He told us that the efforts continue to find a consensus, that it will
perhaps be longer than one might think," Kouchner added.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told Arab foreign ministers over the
weekend that he would consider alternative options, including appealing to
the Security Council, if peace talks remained stalled over Israeli
settlements.

Israel has refused Palestinian and international demands to extend a
10-month moratorium on new settler homes that expired last month despite
Abbas vowing that there will be no further talks until settlement activity
halts.

As a permanent member of the Security Council, France, like the United
States, Britain, Russia and China, would be able to veto any measure calling
for recognition of a Palestinian state in territories occupied in 1967.