BICOM

The Palestinian Authority will present their bid for UN membership on 20 September, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told AFP on Saturday. “Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas will personally present the request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon… at the opening of the sixty-sixth session,” on 20 September, Malki said. Abbas will “insist on this historic initiative and Ban Ki-moon will present the request to the Security Council,” he added.

Malki also said that the Palestinian Authority chose September because Lebanon will be holding the rotating presidency of the Security Council and would, therefore, be in a strong position to push the bid forward. “Lebanon will hold the presidency of the Security Council in September and this will help us because the president of the council has special prerogatives, which is crucial,” he said.

The Palestinians had already expressed their intention to ask the Security Council for UN membership in September, in the absence of negotiations with Israel. However, they face opposition from the United States, which has threatened to derail the Palestinian bid through its Security Council veto. The council must unanimously approve an application for UN membership.

To circumvent the veto, the Palestinians will most likely turn to the General Assembly, asking it to raise their status from a ‘UN observer’ to a ‘non-member state’. This formula would allow them to become a full member of all UN agencies, such as WHO, UNESCO and UNICEF, where the Palestinians currently have no presence. Malki said that he expected “more than 130 countries would recognise the state of Palestine” along 1967 borders, more than the two-thirds majority needed for the vote to pass.

Meanwhile, according to a report in AFP on Saturday citing a Palestinian official, PA President Mahmoud Abbas held four secret meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres in an attempt to find a compromise ahead of September. The report states that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu eventually called a halt to the meetings.

Read more: BICOM Spotlight section: UN Vote on Palestinian Statehood