Emirati newspaper urges support for Palestinian bid for UN membership

In an editorial entitled ‘Israel has to make peace a priority’, Gulf News lamented that Israel’s non-committal approach and its disregard for all accords have derailed the peace process. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has to be brought back on track if any progress is to be made. Yet peace talks are pointless if Israel continues to ignore the basics required to achieve peace, it stressed. “Hence, all efforts should be directed in support of a Palestinian bid for United Nation’s membership in September”, urged the paper. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently said that Israel is willing to hold immediate talks with the Palestinians and has offered to hold them in occupied Jerusalem or Ramallah. He also blamed the Palestinian leadership for the stalemate in the peace process. “Everything is on the table. But we need to get to the table,” he said; the paper noted. “But the reality is far from how Netanyahu describes it. The stalemate in the peace process is a result of Israel’s disregard for any agreement and its non-committal approach towards peace”, said the paper . Had Israel been seriously engaged in the process, there could have been progress achieved over time. And it is because of this stance that the Palestinians find themselves having no choice but to work towards UN membership, it added. “Needless to say, the road to peace is clear and obvious. All it requires is for Israel to genuinely commit to it”, the paper concluded its editorial.