Dailies focus on US position from UN bid

US President Barak Obama’s announcement that the Palestinian Authority’s membership bid to the United Nations is a diversion from the path of peace dominated Wednesday’s front pages of the three local Arabic dailies. Al-Quds, al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Ayyam front pages featured Obama’s announcement that “the Palestinian bid is a diversion from peace”, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks that “bilateral negotiations are the only way to achieve a two-state solution.” Al-Quds printed an illustration of the Palestinian campaign to recognize a Palestinian state and what it takes to become a member in the UN by going through the Security Council and General Assembly. The daily reported on the Arab League’s follow-up peace committee meeting in Cairo on Tuesday and its decision to continue the diplomatic movement to rally support for the Palestinian bid to gain full UN membership of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida newspapers reported on Abbas saying that “seeking UN recognition will not affect the status of the PLO.” Al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted Turkish Prime Minister Teyyeb Erdogan’s speech at the Arab League meeting in which he declared that “Israel must apologize to Turkey, compensate the families of those who died during Israel’s attack on the flotilla and end blockade on Gaza in order to end tension in Turkish-Israeli relations.” Al-Quds reported on Erdogan stating that “recognizing a Palestinian state is not an option but a must.” Al-Ayyam featured a statement by Hamas lawmakers calling on President Mahmoud Abbas to retract the UN bid, saying the move was coordinated with Hamas. Al-Quds editorial highlighted the 18th anniversary of the signing the Oslo agreement between the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and former Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. It defended the agreement, saying that “The Israeli governments are the only ones to blame for the failure in the peace process; they sacrificed peace in order to please the extreme right-wing.”