Palestinians unlikely to drop UN membership bid

The Palestinians are unlikely to agree to drop their UN membership bid in exchange for new peace talks based on the pre-1967 lines, Palestinian officials and analysts say.On Tuesday, an Israeli official confirmed that Israel has been working with Washington to hammer out a framework for new peace talks that both countries hope could convince the Palestinians to drop their bid for United Nations membership.But Palestinian officials and analysts said the Palestinian leadership had already invested heavily in the bid, and would face public disgrace if it agreed to drop the much-touted plan.They described the new framework for talks as little more than a public relations exercise for Israel, allowing it to show willingness to resume talks while attempting to torpedo the UN membership campaign.Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisations executive committee, described the framework for talks as an Israeli bid to thwart the Palestinian move to go the United Nations.This is only intended to draw attention from the Palestinian UN bid, he said.Majdalani said the Palestinian leadership had not been officially presented with any proposal for new talks and had not been involved in any discussions about the prospect.And he questioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus desire for new talks, saying he forced the cancellation of a planned meeting between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres, in which the leaders were to discuss the prospects for resuming peace talks.Talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since September 2010, when they ground to a halt shortly after they began over the issue of settlement construction.Israel declined to renew a partial settlement freeze that expired shortly after the talks began, and the Palestinians say they will not negotiate while Israel builds on land they want for their future state.