(Reuters) – The Palestinians will seek to upgrade their status at the United Nations this month bolstered by the support of Arab countries, Islamic states and the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement, the Palestinian president said on Wednesday.
Previous Palestinian attempts to improve their formal status at the global body – a U.N. observer “entity” with no voting rights – have failed. The Palestinian foreign minister had earlier said they would ask to be made a non-member observer state at the U.N. General Assembly later this month.
“I am going this month to the U.N. General Assembly in light of the latest decision in Doha, the Islamic summit and the Non-Aligned Movement summit,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters at the Arab League.
He was referring to meetings in recent weeks of Arab ministers in Qatar, Islamic states in Saudi Arabia and the Non-Aligned Movement in Iran.
A Palestinian diplomat told Reuters that Abbas was referring to securing recognition as a non-member observer state, a first stage towards recognition of a Palestinian state.
Under its new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt said it backed any statehood initiative by the Palestinians.
“Egypt continues to support any move decided by the Palestinian leadership to obtain full membership in the United Nations,” Mursi told the Arab League in an opening address to ministers before Abbas arrived.
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