CAIRO, Sept 5, 2012 (AFP)
CAIRO, Sept 5, 2012 (AFP)
Arab nations will back a Palestinian plans later this month to seek a non-member status at the United Nations, Arab League Secretary Nabil al-Arabi said on Wednesday.
“It has been decided to back the request of Palestine for non-member status at the United Nations because of the difficulty to obtain a full membership, a matter which requires Security Council approval,” Arabi told reporters.
On August 4, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said president Mahmoud Abbas would make the upgrade request on September 27 during the UN General Assembly.
“In the upcoming session of the General Assembly next month, President Abbas will speak about this on the 27th. Palestine will apply immediately to the UN, and the head of the General Assembly will be informed that Palestine wants to obtain non-member status,” he told reporters.
Palestinians now have an observer entity status.
Last September, Abbas made a high-profile effort to obtain full member status at the UN, but the request was never put to a vote in the Security Council where the United States had pledged to veto it.
Several weeks ago, a senior official from the Palestine Liberation Organisation said Washington was pressuring the Palestinian leadership to delay its upgrade plans until after the US elections in November.
Speaking at the end of an Arab League meeting in Cairo, the head of the pan-Arab organisation added on Wednesday: “We hope that circumstances will allow Palestine to become a fullly fledged member” of the United Nations, adding that non-member status is not a definitive label.
