Palestinian officials on Thursday appeared to backtrack on a pledge to make a fresh bid for upgraded UN membership on September 27.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, told AFP the date would be decided next week when Abbas meets the Arab League in Cairo.
“The president will have Palestinian, Arab and international consultations to set a date for the UN bid to present the request for non-member state status for Palestine,” he said.
“After the Tehran summit, the president will go to Cairo to attend the Arab League follow-up committee meeting on September 5 and 6 which will set a date for the Palestinian bid seeking a status upgrade to non-member state.”
Abbas was Thursday at a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran where members are expected to vote on a political declaration endorsing Palestinian plans for upgrading their status from observer entity to a non-member observer state.
Last September, Abbas made a high-profile effort to obtain full member status for Palestine at the UN, but the request was never put to a vote in the Security Council where the United States had pledged to veto it.
The outcome of the NAM summit would have a “big effect” on Palestinian plans, Abu Rudeina said.
“The decisions taken at the NAM summit will have a big effect on the bid to seek non-member UN status for Palestine,” he said, without explaining further.
On August 4, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki had said Abbas would make the upgrade request on September 27 during the UN General Assembly. “In the upcoming session of the General Assembly next month, President Abbas will speak about this on the 27th. Palestine will apply immediately to the UN, and the head of the General Assembly will be informed that Palestine wants to obtain non-member status,” he told reporters. “After that, we will begin communicating with all components of the General Assembly to talk about the appropriate date” for a vote on the issue.
