Mahmoud Abbas said if Israel recognizes the right of Palestinians to a state and stops all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds (Jerusalem), "we will immediately go to negotiations"

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that if Israel recognizes the right of Palestinians to a state and stops all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and Al-Quds (Jerusalem), "we will immediately go to negotiations," Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds reported on Tuesday.

Abbas's statement came as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she will call Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later Monday to try to set a date for a restart of stalled “peace talks”.

Abbas was speaking at a political function in Colombia, during part a tour in South America aimed at garnering support for the Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations. "We want to reach a political solution to help establish the state of Palestine alongside the State of Israel," Abbas added.

The Palestinians, he said, do not want war and will not allow extremists or radicals to bring about further violent conflict, the PA president said.

The Palestinians went to the United Nations, Abbas explained, "to obtain membership in the global institution" and said that going to the UN does not contradict the negotiation framework laid out in September of 2010.

Abbas was scheduled to meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday before departing for Paris where he was schedule to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the Palestinian bid in the UN Security Council, PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said on Tuesday according to AFP .

PA negotiator Nabil Shaath on Monday expressed optimism that the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations Security Council would receive the backing of nine countries, which would allow the resolution to pass if it is not vetoed by any permanent member of the Security Council.

Shaath told Ma'an News Agency on Monday that the nine countries include Gabon, Nigeria, Bosnia, Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa, China and Russia.

The US has said it would veto the resolution on Palestine at the Security Council, a fact that Sarkozy has publicly acknowledged.

The French president has said he supports granting the Palestinian "observer status" at the UN, and sees this step as both intermediate and important for a broader peace plan he announced at the UN General Assembly last month.
Sarkozy has also called for Palestinians and Israelis to return to the negotiating table.