French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Wednesday on the United Nations to admit Palestine as a non-member state, upgrading its status as simple observer but opposing a Palestinian bid for full membership.

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Sarkozy also called for "one year to reach a definitive agreement" between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the usual U.S.-led peace process should not bypass European, Arab or other countries.

U.S. President Barack Obama stressed Wednesday there is no "short cut" to peace between Israel and the Palestinians as he sought to head off a showdown over a Palestinian bid for full U.N. membership.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Obama made the Middle East conflict the center point of his speech before he was due to hold crucial meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the diplomatic conflict.

Thousands of Palestinians on Wednesday were gathering across the West Bank for rallies in support of the campaign to join the United Nations as the 194th member state.

In Ramallah, the political capital of the West Bank, thousands of people were heading for the city Centre, waving flags and chanting slogans, for a rally expected to start late morning, an AFP correspondent said.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun accused on Tuesday the Mustaqbal bloc of seeking to obstruct the state’s functioning, labeling its members as “liars and hypocrites.”

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “They all make personal attacks. This is defamation and not tackling the problem.”

British Foreign Minister William Hague said the European Union was withholding its position on a looming Palestinian bid for U.N. membership in a bid to force a return to peace talks with Israel.

Ahead of talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in New York on Tuesday, Hague said the 27 EU nations were staying silent on how they would vote on Friday "in order to exert as much pressure on both sides to return to negotiations."

More than 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside the United Nations' offices in Beirut on Tuesday in a show of support for a Palestinian bid to secure full U.N. membership.

"We are here to show our support for Palestine's right to be recognized as a state, a right that is stipulated by international law," said Kazem Hassan, one of the organizers of the joint rally by Lebanese and Palestinians.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas officially told U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon that he would be submitting an application for membership in the global body on Friday, a U.N. spokesman said Monday.

Abbas and Ban also discussed international efforts to avoid a showdown over the bid in a meeting hours after the Palestinian leader's arrival in New York on Monday to make the bid for U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas Monday vowed to submit a bid for U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state this week, amid warnings that sticking to the status quo could fuel "an explosion of violence."

Despite strong opposition from Israel and the United States, Abbas met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to tell him he would go ahead with the controversial move on Friday.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe Monday warned of the risk of an "explosion of violence" if the Palestinian situation is not resolved, saying the status quo was "neither acceptable nor tenable."

"The relaunch of the peace process is needed," Juppe told an audience at a think-tank in New York, amid frantic diplomatic efforts to stop the Palestinians seeking U.N. recognition of their statehood.

Mahmud Abbas said on Monday he expects a "very difficult" situation after he seeks U.N. membership for a Palestinian state this week, in a move strongly opposed by Israel and the United States.

The Palestinian president made the remarks as he arrived in New York, where world powers were meeting in an 11th-hour attempt to head off the membership bid and avoid a diplomatic showdown at the United Nations.