Israeli PM Netanyahu flies to New York to address UN General Assembly

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed on Wednesday to New York to address the UN General Assembly on the issue of the Palestinian independence, his aide Alex Selsky said. On Wednesday, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama, hold consultations with leaders of various countries and representatives of the Jewish community in the United States and give interviews to leading American and world news agencies. He will address the UN General Assembly on Friday, Selsky said. "Israel always gets a chance to be heard at the UN General Assembly and I intend to tell the truth to all those wishing to hear the truth," Netanyahu said earlier commenting on his decision to address the UN General Assembly.The Palestinians have decided to seek UN recognition on Friday of an independent "Palestine" in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, an area Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War, because Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the terms of Palestinian statehood have been frozen since 2008. Direct negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders came to a halt in September 2010, just a few weeks after resuming in Washington following a 20-month break. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas withdrew from the talks after Israel refused to prolong a moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, which expired in late September last year. The Israelis maintain that the settlement issue is not an obstacle to negotiations.