E.U. rejects Palestinian statehood *

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BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union rejected requests Tuesday that it
support a Palestinian plan for gaining recognition as an independent
state at the U.N. Security Council without Israeli consent.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating
EU presidency, told reporters "the conditions are not there as of yet"
for such a move. "I would hope that we would be in a position to
recognize a Palestinian state, but there has to be one first, so I think
that is somewhat premature."


The EU's foreign ministers on Tuesday were discussing ways to coordinate
with the United States to get Palestinians and Israelis back to peace
talks, said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations
commissioner.


"The most important thing until now is to really help the Americans
bring both sides to the table," she said.


The 27-nation bloc has taken a back-seat approach to recent efforts by
President Barack Obama and his special envoy for Mideast peace, George
Mitchell, to restart peace talks between the two sides.


Bildt said he could understand why the Palestinians were suggesting such
a move, as a way to break the current deadlock. "It is clearly an act
borne by a difficult situation where they don't see any road ahead and I
can understand that," said Bildt.


He reiterated EU calls that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
move to freeze all Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, a
key Palestinian demand it is pushing for before it will return to
negotiations.


Netanyahu, who refuses to halt settlement construction, has repeatedly
urged the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table without
conditions.


Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, told reporters that moving
to set up a viable Palestinian state "has to be done with time and with
calm and in an appropriate moment." He added no one is "looking for that
today."


Palestinian officials launched an appeal to EU countries on Monday to
back their plan while the idea of seeking U.N. intervention has gained
support in the Arab world, as a way to break the impasse in peacemaking.


The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east
Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967. Israel pulled its
soldiers and settlers out of Gaza in 2005, but has annexed east
Jerusalem and maintains a military occupation in the West Bank. Islamic
Hamas militants violently wrested control of Gaza from Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas loyalists in a 2007.


The Palestinian U.N. plan also has been rejected by Washington, which
along with the EU backs a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.


The Israeli government has threatened to nullify past accords with the
Palestinians if they take any unilateral action.


Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that any
Palestinian move on independence "will be countered by a unilateral move
on our part."


The Palestinians have not set a timetable for presenting a formal
proposal to the Security Council. But with the backing of the Arab
League, they have been lobbying U.N. member states to support such a
proposal when it is submitted.