Ramallah, Sept 7 (ANI): Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that achieving 'Palestinian statehood' is important for the peace negotiations with Israel.
Abbas said that he would approach the United Nations for recognition later this month with the peace process uppermost in mind, despite US and Israeli opposition.
"We don't want to delegitimize Israel. We want to legitimise ourselves," the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.
Abbas further stressed that the Palestinian Authority would continue to work with Israel on security issues.
He pointed out that Palestinian and Israeli security forces have co-operated successfully for several years to contain the threat of terrorism in the West Bank.
"We will continue to do our job. Security will prevail as long as I am in office," he added.
Officials from the Palestinian Authority earlier revealed that Abbas recently met with Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak in Jordan to discuss the possibility of renewing direct negotiations, which stalled over a year ago following a fall out over Israel's ongoing expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
But, Israel declined to confirm the meeting and contradicted Abbas' assurance of ongoing co-operation following his appeal to the United Nations, the paper said. (ANI)
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