Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Palestinians ask Obama: Why not endorse our Arab Spring?

Maen Rashid Areikat, chief diplomat at the PLO's Washington office, speaks at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast for reporters in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Sept. 13.
-Michael Bonfigli/Christian Science Monitor


President Obama is sending two Middle East envoys back to the region Tuesday for a final stab at dissuading the Palestinians from seeking a UN vote on statehood.

By Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor Staff writer
September 13, 2011

WASHINGTON

The United States and Israel may insist that a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations next week will be disastrous for Middle East peace prospects, but Palestinian officials are painting the move in much more positive hues.

n a region where the Arab Spring is in full bloom, they argue, the Palestinian leadership has to offer its people something – especially with the peace process President Obama re-launched a year ago all but dead.

“This [UN move] is aimed at preserving the two-state solution,” said Maen Rashid Areikat, the Palestinian ambassador to Washington. “We are trying to keep hope alive among the Palestinian people that this [two-state solution] is going to be feasible.”

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