Should the US choose to veto the Palestinian Authority UN Security Council resolution to put a timetable on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, the PA would apply for membership in 522 international statutes and organizations, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday.
In comments carried by the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency, Erekat said that the Palestinians would seek recognition from additional EU countries after Sweden and Britain each made moves toward recognizing a Palestinian state in recent weeks.
Erekat said that Israel's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza was an attempt to destroy the two-state solution, making it all the more important that the PA seek recognition now. "We have nothing to lose except loss itself," Ma'an quoted him as saying.
He suggested that the Palestinian people expect the PA to be more than a mere body for enforcing calm over Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
"Palestinians refuse to turn the Palestinian Authority, which was created to take them from being under occupation to independence, to a national authority to pay for salaries and security coordination (with Israel)."
Erekat added that both Hamas and Islamic Jihad would soon be holding internal elections, a necessary step before a general Palestinian election can be held.