Abbas: 'All options open' if peace talks fail - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned in comments published Monday that "all options are open" if the U.S. fails to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The comments, Abbas' first since U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced last week that peace talks may resume for the first time in five years, may be an attempt to exert pressure on the U.S. and Israel to meet Palestinian demands on the terms of formal negotiations. Israeli and Palestinian representatives are to hold preliminary talks in Washington soon. There, the sides are to work out the final details of what Kerry portrayed as broad agreement on the framework for restarting peace talks that collapsed in 2008.- Yahoo! News

Abbas: 'All options open' if peace talks fail - Yahoo! News: "Abbas did not name his other options, but referred to last year's upgrade of the Palestinian status at the U.N. At the time, the General Assembly accepted a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — lands Israel captured in 1967 — as a non-member observer state in a largely symbolic gesture.

Palestinian officials have said that in the absence of negotiations with Israel, they would seek further U.N. recognition, including membership in U.N. agencies and possible redress against Israeli policies at the International Criminal Court." CLICK LINK TO READ MORE

'via Blog this'