Mahmoud Abbas bids UN support for Palestine statehood

September 23, 2011 - 21:27 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked the United Nations on Friday, September 23 to recognize a state for his people, even though Israel still occupies its territory and the United States has vowed to veto the move.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said Abbas handed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a letter requesting full U.N. membership, which the Security Council must consider -- although this may take some time.

His appeal to the council reflects a loss of faith after 20 years of failed peace talks sponsored by the United States, Israel's main ally, and alarm at relentless Israeli settlement expansion eating into the land Palestinians want for a state.

It also exposes Washington's dwindling influence in a region shaken by Arab uprisings and shifting alliances that have pushed Israel, for all its military muscle, deeper into isolation.

"It is not a secret that the U.S. administration has done everything it could to prevent us from going (to the United Nations)," Abbas, 76, told reporters late on Thursday.

"But we're going without any hesitation and we will continue whatever the pressure ... because we are asking for our right, because we want our independent state," he added.

Abbas will set out his case in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will also take the podium to argue that only direct negotiations between the two sides can lead to a Palestinian state, Reuters reported.