Israeli minister warns on peace stalemate

JERUSALEM (AP) -- An Israeli Cabinet minister says that without peace talks, the entire world could recognize a sovereign Palestinian state within a year.

With negotiations deadlocked, Palestinian leaders say they are pursuing alternatives like seeking recognition from as many countries as possible of a Palestinian state in territories Israel captured in 1967.

Several Latin American countries have done so recently.

Cabinet Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of the centrist Labor Party says that without negotiations, "within a year, we will find ourselves in a situation where the whole world - and I wouldn't be surprised if even the United States - would support a Palestinian state."

The U.S. and the European Union say a state should emerge from negotiations, not unilateral actions.