JERICHO, August 1, 2011 (WAFA) - PLO Executive Committee Member, Saeb Erekat, said that the international community’s approval of Palestinian UN membership supports the two state solution.

In individual meetings with UN Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to the Palestinian Authority, Robert Serry, Representative of the European Union to the PA, Christian Berger, and deputy US consul general, Erekat stressed that the Palestinian bid for full UN membership does not conflict with the peace process or its terms of reference, whether the signed agreements, relevant international resolutions, roadmap for peace or the Arab Peace Initiative.

When asked about Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on different levels, Erekat said the news is unfounded and there have been no negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government since it came to power.

He added that the meetings in Washington, Sharm El-Sheikh and West Jerusalem cannot be considered as negotiations, because they all focused on one question by President Mahmoud Abbas to Netanyahu on whether Israel will be stopping settlement activities. Netanyahu’s negative response halted these meetings.

F.J./F.R.