Palestinians to launch UN bid this month

The Palestinian leadership will launch a campaign to upgrade their status at the United Nations this month, seeking support from at least 150 nations, an official said on Thursday. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the campaign to upgrade their status from observer entity to that of a non-member observer state would start immediately after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas addresses the General Assembly on Sept.27. “We will begin the consultations of all the geopolitical groups,” he said, “any group... willing to join us in the drafting of a resolution,” he told reporters at a press conference in Jericho. “We want Palestine back on the map on the 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital, carried by 150 to 170 nations,” he said. The Palestinians currently hold observer status at the United Nations, and a high-profile bid last September to obtain full member status stalled before it was put to a vote in the UN Security Council. But obtaining non-member status is achieved through a simple vote in the General Assembly, where the Palestinians are expected to easily meet the required threshold of support from more than half the 194 member states. Erakat said they had not yet set a date for the formal submission of the non-member status resolution. Some were pushing for the resolution to be submitted on Nov.29, the international day of solidarity with the Palestinians, while others wanted it to be made “immediately,” he said. “All these things are being weighed, but the most important thing is we want a draft resolution that is signed by 150 to 170 nations.” Earakat also said that US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is undermining hopes for peace and democracy in the Middle East. Erekat rejected Romney’s recent video remark to donors that the Palestinians have “no interest whatsoever” in peace. Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Erekat said “no one stands to gain more from peace than the Palestinians, and no one stands to lose from the absence of peace like the Palestinians.” He said those who tolerated Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories are “working against democracy and peace.” From gulftoday