Palestinians have ‘guaranteed majority’ in Bid for UN Membership

The Palestinians’ bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations 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 United Nations, 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 internationalize 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.”