Palestinians Want 150 Votes for U.N. Non-Member Status
The Palestinian leadership will launch a campaign to upgrade their status at the United Nations this month, seeking support from at least 150 nations, an official said Thursday.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the campaign to upgrade their status from observer entity to that of a non-member observer state would start immediately after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the General Assembly on September 27.
"We will begin the consultations of all the geopolitical groups," he said, "any group... willing to join us in the drafting of a resolution," he told reporters at a press conference in Jericho.
"We want Palestine back on the map on the 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital, carried by 150 to 170 nations," he said.
The Palestinians currently hold observer status at the United Nations, and a high-profile bid last September to obtain full member status stalled before it was put to a vote in the U.N. Security Council.
But obtaining non-member status is achieved through a simple vote in the General Assembly, where the Palestinians are expected to easily meet the required threshold of support from more than half the 194 member states.
Erakat said they had not yet set a date for the formal submission of the non-member status resolution.
Some were pushing for the resolution to be submitted on November 29, the international day of solidarity with the Palestinians, while others wanted it to be made "immediately," he said.
"All these things are being weighed, but the most important thing is we want a draft resolution that is signed by 150 to 170 nations."
Palestinian attempts to upgrade their status at the United Nations, which would give them access to various international agencies, have been strongly opposed by Israel and the United States.
But the Palestinians say the stalemate in peace talks, on hold since late September 2010, has forced them to seek unilateral recognition at the U.N.
Source: Agence France Presse
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