Abbas makes Palestinian statehood request

Minutes after submitting an application Friday for membership as a state in the United Nations, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israeli settlements as the primary obstacle in the peace process in a speech outlining why he chose to seek statehood through the world body.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed his reasoning, saying the settlements are a recent phenomenon that are the result of stalled peacemaking. He said the Palestinians' refusal to recognize "the Jewish state" was the real reason for the impasse.

And in a last-ditch effort to get the two parties talking, the Middle East quartet -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- released a proposal recommending Israel and the Palestinians submit concrete plans on the thorny issues of borders and security within three months.

Catherine Ashton, the quartet's European Union representative, said the diplomatic group is offering a "framework for discussion" for both sides.

"If ever there was a time to solve this conflict, it is now," she said after the quartet released a statement outlining the proposal, which also asks the sides to agree on an agenda for talks within 30 days.

Before his speech Abbas received extended applause.

"This policy [of settlements], which constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law and UN resolutions, is the primary cause for the failure of the peace process," said Abbas.

Netanyahu said the Palestinians should first make peace with Israel and then get statehood.

"I think it's time that the Palestinian leadership recognizes what every serious international leader has recognized, from Lord Balfour and Lloyd George in 1917, to President Truman in 1948, to President Obama just two days ago right here: Israel is the Jewish state," Netanyahu said.

Both statesmen's speeches were interrupted many times by applause from the delegates who are in New York for the annual General Assembly.

Abbas held up a copy of the application he had just submitted to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as he spoke to scores of diplomats who seemed to cheer him on. But his address may have been chiefly aimed at the 15 members of the Security Council, which could grant the Palestinians full membership.

Hours later, Ban submitted the application to Nawaf Salam of Lebanon, the country that serves as president of the UN Security Council this month.

Abbas said the Palestinians have satisfied all the requirements of a mature nation, building functional institutions, including a judiciary, legislative body and law enforcement apparatus.

He added that the Palestinian people have existed in limbo for too long, enduring occupation since 1967 and living without self-determination or sovereignty.

"At a time when the Arab people affirm their quest for democracy -- the Arab Spring -- the time is now for the Palestinian spring, the time for independence," Abbas said.

But Netanyahu, who followed Abbas, reiterated claims that direct talks are the best, if not the only, route to peace.

"That's odd," he said of Abbas' assessment that settlements are the key obstacle. "Our conflict had been raging for half a century before there was a single Israeli in the West Bank . . . The core of the conflict has always been and unfortunately remains the refusal of the Palestinians to recognize the Jewish state."

Netanyahu offered to sit down with Abbas while the two leaders were in New York this week.

The Security Council will discuss the Palestinian application on Monday. The United States has pledged to block the bid.