The Palestinians may unilaterally declare statehood if resumed peace talks with Israel fail, an advisor to the Palestinian National Administration said on Tuesday.
On Monday, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to resume stalled direct peace talks and started to discuss the details of four-month indirect negotiations mediated by the United States.
Nimer Hammad said that if during four months of talks Palestine does not see that the U.S. administration has pressured Israel and no progress has been made then Palestine would look for other possibilities such as the unilateral declaration of its statehood.
He added that in that case Palestine might also not apply for recognition in the UN Security Council.
The talks got under way despite Israel's decision on Monday to give the go-ahead for 112 new homes to be built in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving peace talks.
Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity, and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from the Palestinian territories.
GAZA, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
