Reuters | Aug 05, 2012 | 23:48 Updated: Aug 05, 2012 | 23:48
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The Palestinians’ bid to upgrade their status at the UN would find majority support there but would not bring them closer to statehood and peace with Israel, Israel’s UN envoy said on Sunday.

Citing stalled peacemaking and Israeli settlement-building on occupied West Bank land where they seek sovereign independence, the Palestinians said on Saturday they would renew a bid to win UN recognition as a state.

Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, accused the Palestinians of trying to recapture international attention that has shifted to crises in Iran, Egypt and Syria.

“There is an attempt [by the Palestinians] to make unilateral moves in order to internationalise the conflict,” Prosor told Israel Radio in a telephone interview.

“But beyond what are perhaps the feelings of frustration, it is important to remember that the path to peace really is through the negotiating table with Israel.”

The Palestinians want to found a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in the 1967 war.

Though Israel quit Gaza in 2005, it claims East Jerusalem as its capital, a move not recognised internationally, and says it would keep swathes of West Bank settlements under any peace deal. The UN deems the settlements illegal.

Full UN membership for Palestine would require approval by the Security Council, where Israel’s ally, the US, would likely wield its veto given its demand the Palestinians set up their state in agreement with Israel.

So the Palestinians, in what they describe as an interim move, plan to ask the UN General Assembly next month to accord them non-member observer status, which would allow them to join a number of UN agencies and the International Criminal Court.

The Palestinians are currently a UN observer “entity” with no voting rights.

Prosor said the Palestinians have a “guaranteed majority” in the 193-member General Assembly — enough to bestow non-member observer status, which the envoy predicted would be used “to hurt us [Israel]” in various international forums.

http://jordantimes.com/israel-sees-un-majority-for-palestine-status-upgrade