Ramallah: The Palestinians' Plan B - an alternative to the elusive peace deal with Israel - is gradually taking shape: convince as many countries as possible to recognise a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and occupied east Jerusalem, and use that to lobby the United States not to veto recognition by the UN Security Council.
The issue suddenly became more urgent late Tuesday when US officials said they had abandoned efforts to get Israel to reinstate a West Bank colony construction slowdown, concluding that was not the best way to restart the talks. The Palestinians have said they would not resume negotiations without construction curbs.
With efforts deadlocked, Brazil and Argentina have recognised "Palestine," expected to be followed by Uruguay next month, the result of what a senior Palestinian official described as months of campaigning. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he is now setting his sights on Europe and would ask increasingly influential Turkey to serve as a go-between. Abbas was in Turkey on Tuesday.
It might be tough to persuade Western countries to take such a step, as long as there is still a chance the US can restart negotiations on creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Israel warned on Tuesday that recognising a state of Palestine without waiting for negotiations only hurts peace efforts.
Talks hit a roadblock in September, shortly after their launch, when Israel refused to extend a moratorium on housing starts in West Bank colonies.
In recent weeks, the Obama administration tried to persuade Israel to agree to a 90-day extension, but two US officials said on Tuesday those efforts have been abandoned. Under the deal, it was to have been a one-time extension and the US would not have pressed for a further renewal.
While Abbas emphasises that establishing Palestine through negotiations remains his preferred choice, he has been pursuing alternative routes to statehood with increasing vigor. The Palestinians say that underlying their need for a Plan B is the fear that they won't be able to reach a peace deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The option most frequently raised in recent months is to seek UN recognition of a state on the lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war - the West Bank, Gaza and occupied east Jerusalem.
Winning a majority in the UN General Assembly would presumably be an easier task, but obtaining recognition by the UN Security Council would be the bigger prize, yet much harder to obtain because of a likely US veto.
Washington has traditionally blocked measures that Israel considers hostile.
Anticipating such difficulties, the Palestinians have been trying to improve their leverage, including by lobbying individual countries to recognise a Palestinian state in 1967 borders, said Nabil Shaath, a senior Abbas aide.
Brazil led the way in Latin America by granting recognition on Friday.
Argentina followed on Monday, and Uruguay is to do the same in January.
Shaath said Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Salvador are also possibilities, though to varying degrees, he said.
With each additional country recognising "Palestine," it would be more difficult for the US to use its veto if and when the Palestinians seek the nod from the Security Council, Shaath said.
Such recognition would not change much on the ground, but it could raise the Palestinians' international standing and enshrine their demand that the 1967 lines must serve as the basis for drawing Palestine's borders. Netanyahu opposes withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines, though he says he remains committed to negotiating a partition of the land.
Israeli officials were split on Tuesday on the potential impact of foreign endorsements of Palestine.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said the recognition by Brazil and Argentina had no practical meaning. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said unilateral recognition is "disappointing and damaging" and violates previous peace deals.
Abbas, meanwhile, is going after other countries. Earlier this week, he said he would seek Turkish support for winning recognition from countries in western Europe, and that he planned to hand Turkish leaders a list of nations he needed help with.
On Tuesday, after a joint news conference with Abbas in Ankara, Turkish President Abdullah Gul seemed supportive. He said that while Turkey supports negotiations, they can only resume once Israel freezes colony construction.
Turkey wants "everyone to recognise the state of Palestine," with occupied east Jerusalem as a capital, Gul said, though he did not make clear whether this should be done outside the framework of negotiations.
The European Union is supporting US efforts to restart negotiations, though some European states have upgraded Palestinian representation in an apparent show of support.
