Palestinians demonstrate hope for upgraded status at UN

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At a time when a Palestinian resolution that would change Palestine’s UN observer status from an "entity" to a "non-member state" is expected to pass easily in the 193-nation UN General Assembly on Thursday, all eyes remain on the report due to be submitted by the UN special envoy for Syria Akhdar Ibrahimi to the UN Security Council in the next few hours.

In this regard, An-Nahar Lebanese Daily quoted concerned European diplomatic sources as saying that in the past few days, Ibrahimi informed UN officials of his final decision to establish a permanent office in Cairo. This decision comes as a result of consultations between New York and Cairo.

Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians gathered across the West Bank and Gaza on Thursday to demonstrate their support for a fresh attempt by president Mahmud Abbas to secure an upgraded UN status in New York.

In Arafat Square in Ramallah, the Palestinians said there is great hope that the General Assembly, by its 193 members, will accept Palestine as a non-member state. The Palestinian officials noted that they need the UN's recognition for a Palestinian state in order to be able to continue peace talks with Israel, while the US and Israel consider that this is an attempt to surpass peace talks.

In this context, the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton reiterated that direct negotiations with Israel is the only way to reach a Palestinian State, noting on the other hand that the path to a solution which meets the aspirations of the Palestinians, passes through Ramallah and Jerusalem, not through New York.

For his part, the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the UN vote will not change anything on the ground, stressing that "the Palestinians will not have their State this way."

Earlier, Germany announced that it will abstain in a vote on Thursday at the UN General Assembly on changing the Palestinians' diplomatic status, which is widely seen as an indirect bid for UN recognition of statehood.

"We did not take this decision lightly. Germany shares the goal of a Palestinian state. We have campaigned for this in many ways... but the decisive steps towards real statehood can only be the result of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.

For its part, Italy will support a United Nations resolution on Thursday giving Palestine the status of a "non-member state", officials said.

A government statement said the move was in line with Italy's support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Italian statement said Prime Minister Mario Monti had telephoned both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to explain the decision, which is opposed by the United States, Israel and a handful of other states.

LBCI/REUTERS

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