"The choice of Palestine applying for to the Security Council for a full membership is a realistic one that we must work on applying as soon as possible," he said. Erakat said the Palestinians had no choice but to seek an alternative as negotiations with Israel were not going anywhere.
"We are convinced that negotiation with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's government is impossible because it refuses to stop settlement activities," he said.
"So the Palestinian leadership decided to start implementing alternatives to negotiations and the first of these is demanding recognition," he said. The United States secured re-launch of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians in September 2010, after a hiatus of nearly two years. But the negotiations ground to a halt just week’ later, with the expiry of an Israeli moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank. The Palestinians insist they will not negotiate while Israel builds on land they want for a future state.