Abbas sets deadline for joining the UN

THE Palestinians want the United Nations Security Council to decide on their bid for full membership of the world body within a fortnight, a leading official in the Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday.

“Palestinians will wait two weeks for Security Council to consider application for membership,” said the official, Azzam al-Ahmad.

Lebanon’s UN ambassador said the Security Council would convene tomorrow to discuss the application after Abbas presented it to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday.

“I circulated the letter [Palestinian application] to all members of the Security Council and I called for consultations in light of this letter on Monday at three in the afternoon,” said ambassador Nawaf Salam.

Ahmad did not elaborate on what course of action the Palestinians would pursue if the Security Council rejected the request, a likely scenario considering the United States has said it will veto the move.

Abbas’s statehood bid reflects his loss of faith after 20 years of failed peace talks sponsored by the United States, and alarm at Israeli settlement expansion in occupied land that Palestinians want for a state.

Apart from the US veto threat, it was also unclear if the required nine of the body’s 15 members would support the bid.