Abbas seeks upgrade of Palestinian status

28 Nov 2012, 3:36 pm   -   Source: AAP
There are no vetoes in the General Assembly and the resolution, which needs a majority vote for approval, is virtually certain to be adopted. (Getty)

There are no vetoes in the General Assembly and the resolution, which needs a majority vote for approval, is virtually certain to be adopted. (Getty)

The UN is expected to vote in favour of upgraded status for Palestine, giving the territory access to a range of UN agencies.

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The Palestinians are heading to the UN in a bid to upgrade their status.

President Mahmoud Abbas will on Thursday personally ask the UN General Assembly to upgrade Palestine's rank from an observer entity to that of a non-member observer state.

The request is expected to be approved by the 193 member states. It will give the Palestinians access to a range of UN agencies and also potentially to the International Criminal Court.

The move is strongly opposed by the United States and Israel, who say a Palestinian state should emerge only out of bilateral negotiations.

The latest bid comes 14 months after Abbas first approached the UN, seeking full state membership. That request stalled at the Security Council after the United States threatened to use its veto.

As Abbas took off from Amman for New York, France announced it would vote in favour of the resolution in what is widely seen as strong show of support.

However, the United States publicly disagreed with France, one of its closest allies.

"We obviously disagree with our oldest ally on this issue. They know that we disagree with them," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "But it's their sovereign decision to make."

France is the first major European power to voice approval of the Palestinian move.

Over the last week, Abbas also received a rare show of support from rival Palestinian nationalist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Until now, the Islamist movement had publicly opposed the bid, accusing Abbas of acting unilaterally and warning it would compromise Palestinian rights.

Abbas is aware there is likely to be a political backlash over his decision to return to the United Nations.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokeswoman told AFP on Tuesday Israel would most likely not take any punitive measures if the Palestinians merely upgraded their status, in what the Jewish state saw as a largely symbolic act.

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