NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama, making a last-ditch effort to prevent a diplomatic clash, will urge the Palestinians to drop their bid for statehood when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly.
Obama is to follow his speech Wednesday with separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH’-hoo) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD’ ah-BAHS’) as he seeks to coax both parties back to direct peace talks.
But U.S. officials concede that they probably cannot prevent Abbas from making a formal request to the Security Council for full Palestinian membership.
Privately, Obama is expected to ask Abbas not to push for a vote in the Security Council, where the U.S. has promised a veto, to give international peacemakers time to produce a statement that would be the basis for resumed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
