JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Palestinians plan to ask the United Nations Security Council to recognize an independent state, according to a senior Palestinian official.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, told several media outlets over the weekend that the Palestinians would seek approval for a state along the 1967 border lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Arab states, Russia and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reportedly have expressed support for the plan, Erekat said, according to Ha’aretz.
Erekat did not say when the Palestinians would go to the council with the plan.
"When we are ready, we will go," he told Reuters.
Erekat told Israel’s Army Radio that "We’re fed up with your time wasting. We don’t believe that you really want a two-state solution."
The Palestinians has refused a return to the negotiating table until Israel stops all building in the West Bank. Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has limited, but not halted, building in the settlements.
