Palestinian Authority vows no new intifada against Israel

The Palestinian authorities will do everything possible to avoid escalating tensions with Israel even if their bid for statehood is rejected by the UN Security Council, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Fayed Mustafa said on Wednesday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to deliver a formal request for statehood recognition on Friday when he speaks to the UN General Assembly. Israel and the U.S. strongly oppose the move, saying the long-running Middle East conflict can be resolved only through negotiations. Mustafa said at a news conference in RIA Novosti that Israel had been attempting to increase tensions with Palestinians in the past few months in order to hamper the Palestinian drive toward statehood. "They [the Israelis] have been holding various [military] exercises and beefing up their security checkpoints in the occupied territories," the diplomat said. "But we will do everything to avoid getting drawn into a new round of violence provoked by Israel." Mustafa said the Palestinians would push for at least non-full member status in the United Nations, even if Washington blocked their bid in the Security Council. Direct negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders came to a halt in September 2010, just a few weeks after resuming in Washington following a 20-month break. Abbas withdrew from the talks after Israel refused to prolong a moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, which expired in late September last year. The Israelis maintain that the settlement issue is not an obstacle to negotiations.