Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will depart for New York at the end of September to address the United Nations General Assembly. According to PA sources, Abbas will use his speech to ask the international community to upgrade the PA's status from an observer state to full membership.
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In Ramallah, PA officials decided to reinvigorate their diplomatic efforts on this front following US President Joe Biden's visit to Bethlehem in July. The request to recognize the PA as a state with full membership rights in the UN was raised in recent discussions and meetings between Abbas and his people, and world leaders and prominent figures, and such talks are expected to intensify over the next month. Abbas has already discussed the matter with Biden and with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Palestinian officials told Israel Hayom that the initiative wasn't necessarily a tactical move designed to pressure Israel to return to the negotiation table, and that the goal was to keep the two-state solution on the global agenda and keep alive the idea of a Palestinian state.
"We regard this as an issue of utmost importance right now. This is the world's commitment toward us and particularly the countries that believe in the two-state solution. We are making tremendous efforts to turn Palestine into a full member at the UN, and are working directly with every country and member of the UN Security Council. If we don't succeed there, we will go to the UN General Assembly," Ahmad al-Deek, a senior political adviser to the PA's foreign minister, told Israel Hayom.
"We weren't persuaded by all the excuses and attempts by Israel and international bodies to reject launching the diplomatic process. Time isn't on our side. Settlements continue to expand, Israel is signing accords and normalizing relations with counties in the region as if the Palestinian issue doesn't exist, and continues to destroy the chances for establishing a state. We think that recognition of Palestine as a full member of the UN will help peace and can push the two-state solution forward," al-Deek continued.
The Palestinians pursued a similar diplomatic course around a decade ago, which ultimately proved fruitless. The Palestinians are pushing to revive these efforts after realizing the American administration is still unwilling to present a diplomatic peace initiative. Abbas and his people failed to convince Biden and his staff of the need to lay out a plan to advance the diplomatic process, which spurred the PA's leadership in Ramallah to seek out other alternatives and avenues to promote a diplomatic horizon.
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