New York meetings open to avert Palestinian crisis

Officials met two days after President Mahmoud Abbas said he would demand full membership of the world body for a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this week, setting up a diplomatic clash with Israel and the United States.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Ashton's recent trip to the region. "We share the goal of trying to bring the parties back to the negotiating table," a U.S. official said.

Senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators -- also met on Sunday, an EU official said, as part of an intense effort in recent weeks to persuade the Palestinians to avoid a confrontation.

The official said the diplomats were assessing the situation, but gave no further details. They are likely to meet every day this week, a U.S. official said.

Washington and Israel say a U.N. vote over Palestinian statehood would damage chances for peace negotiations, arguing that a state can only be created through a settlement between the two sides.

But in a televised speech on Friday, Abbas said he would request the Palestinians' "legitimate right, obtaining full membership for Palestine." The Palestinians say almost 20 years of on-off direct talks on statehood envisaged by interim peace accords have hit a dead end.

The United States says it will veto in the Security Council a Palestinian application for full U.N. membership, but former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who serves as an envoy for the Quartet, said on Sunday a showdown could still be averted.