Newspaper : Abbas to Submit UN Membership Application

The three Arabic dailies Sunday highlighted Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki’s press conference, in which he announced that President Mahmoud Abbas will personally submit Palestine’s application for membership to the United Nations Security Council on September 20. Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Al-Ayyam and Al-Quds’ prime stories reported that al-Malki expects more than 130 countries to recognize a Palestinian state within 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital, and support its full membership in the UN. Al-Ayyam’s front page story featured the Fatah advisory board headed by Abbas, where he reiterated the Palestinian leadership’s persistence to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September. Abbas said this is a result of Israeli intransigence and refusal of hold serious negotiations that would lead to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state. Al-Quds and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida also reported on the meeting, adding that Abbas said he secretly met with Israeli President Shimon Peres four times in attempts to resume negotiations, according to a Palestinian official present at the meeting. The three newspapers featured the escalated situation in Syria, where 23 people died on Friday and three others on Saturday. The dailies also reported on the events in Libya and Egypt. The mass protests in Israeli cities against high rent and housing prices also made it to the newspapers’ front pages. The three dailies showed pictures of the Israeli protesters demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign from his office.