RAMALLAH (AFP) – Jordan Times. The Palestinians are to present their bid for United Nations membership on September 20, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Malki told AFP on Saturday.
Palestinian families break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea in Gaza City on Friday (AP photo by Adel Hana)
“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will personally present the request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon… at the opening of the sixty-sixth session,” on September 20, Malki said.
Abbas will “insist on this historic initiative and Ban Ki-moon will present the request to the Security Council,” he said.
Malki added that the Palestinian Authority chose September because Lebanon, holding the rotating presidency of the Security Council, would be in a strong position to push the bid forward.
“Lebanon will hold the presidency of the Security Council in September and this will help us because the president of the council has special prerogatives, which is crucial,” he said.
Following the collapse of direct peace talks with Israel in September last year, the Palestinians have adopted a diplomatic strategy of looking to secure UN recognition for a state along the frontiers which existed before the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Palestinians had already expressed their intention to ask the Security Council for UN membership in September, in the absence of negotiations with Israel before the annual UN General Assembly.
But they face opposition from the United States, which threatens to derail the Palestinian bid through its Security Council veto. An application for UN membership must be approved by the council.
To circumvent the veto, the Palestinians could turn to the General Assembly, asking it to “raise [their] status to a UN observer and non-member state”.
That formula would allow them to become a full member of all UN agencies, such as WHO, UNESCO and UNICEF, where the Palestinians presently have no presence.
Categories: Palestine