Palestinians Launch U.N. Bid Solidarity Campaign

Palestinians on Thursday kicked off a campaign of support for their bid to become the 194th state to join the United Nations, calling on U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to back them.

The launch of the campaign, dubbed "National Campaign for Palestine: state 194", is part of the build-up to September 20, when Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is expected to submit the formal membership request.

In Ramallah on Thursday, the campaign got underway with a march to U.N. headquarters in the West Bank city, where organizers presented a letter requesting Ban support the membership bid.

"Today we began our campaign on the ground and we chose the U.N. building because it represents the United Nations and we expect them to respond to our demands," Ahmed Assaf, the campaign's coordinator, told Agence France Presse.

"We are no less important than the other 193 states in the United Nations and our message will ask for our state to be 194."

A copy of the letter shown to AFP said the campaign would continue "until the state of Palestine is finally admitted as member state number 194."

"Your excellency, the Palestinian people at home and in the diaspora, particularly those in refugee camps who were uprooted from their homeland and dispossessed 63 years ago, hope that your excellency will stand by justice and do right by our people," the letter said.

"The admission of the state of Palestine to the U.N. is an important step towards ending the occupation and achieving Palestinian independence and realizing a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East," it continued.

"We hope that you will join the international consensus and support the Palestinian bid for its long overdue recognition."

The letter was delivered to Pascal Soto, head of the U.N. office in Ramallah.

"I received the letter and I will send it to the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon," he said. "It will go today, they are six hours behind us, so they will receive it in the morning their time."

Around 100 people joined the march to the headquarters, waving Palestinian flags and holding signs reading, "We want a Palestinian state 194 in the U.N."

The protesters chanted "We want our identity, we want a state," and called on Arab nations to throw their support behind the membership bid.

Abbas is to submit a formal request for Palestinian U.N. membership to Ban on September 20.

The request is expected to seek full membership for a Palestinian state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War.

The bid is opposed by Israel and Washington, which has warned it will block the membership plan in the Security Council.

If the bid is vetoed in the body, the Palestinians plan to turn to the General Assembly where they are expected to easily win the votes needed to upgrade their representation from an observer body to a non-member state.