BICOM

Foreign Secretary William Hague cautioned against a Palestinian application for UN membership at the Security Council yesterday, in comments made from the UN General Assembly in New York. Hague said a membership application at the Security Council would just lead to confrontation and would clearly be vetoed by the US. Hague stressed that the best option would be an agreement to a return to direct negotiations with Israel. The Foreign Secretary said, “I’ll be meeting President Abbas here in New York tomorrow and all the pressure we’re exerting will be in that direction of returning to negotiations to find a two state solution to allow a Palestinian state truly to come in to being.”

Hague also said that the European Union had withheld its position on the resolution in order to “exert as much pressure on both sides to return to negotiations” as it is “the only real way forward”.

In a separate development yesterday, Middle East Minister Alistair Burt raised concerns at the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna about Iran’s nuclear programme. Burt said: “The Director General’s latest report reminds us that Iran continues to defy UN Resolutions and is failing to cooperate fully with the IAEA over its nuclear programme. The latest report once again flags the possible military dimensions to the Iranian programme and the increasing concerns of the Agency.”