UN has handed Palestinian bid to Security Council president: spokesman

Laaska News  Sept. 23,2011                    +  Related News

 

Photo: EPA.   

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has transmitted the Palestinian statehood application to the president of the UN Security Council, hours after Ban received it from Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, a UN spokesman said here on Friday.

“The secretary-general has transmitted the Palestinian application to the president of the Security Council,” Fahan Haq, the associate UN spokesman, told reporters here.

Last week, the secretary-general pledged to hand over the Palestinian bid to the Security Council as soon as possible if he is requested to do so.

Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese UN ambassador, holds the rotating Security Council presidency for September. Lebanon is currently a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

The Security Council whose approval and recommendation is a must for the new UN membership, has 35 days to consider the application.

Palestinians have warned against what they called “the technical delay” in dealing with the statehood bid.

The United States, a permanent Council member and a close ally of Israel, threatens to veto any Security Council move to recognize Palestine as a member state on the ground that the Middle East peace should be achieved through direct talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Xinhua.

 

Palestinian president gets standing ovation at General Assembly

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) — Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Friday was greeted with a standing ovation as he entered the hall of the UN General Assembly, where he is to speak on the Palestinian position on the world issues.

The standing ovation lasted more than one minute as Abbas was greeted by heads of state and government, who took part in the ongoing general debate of the General Assembly.

Abbas emerged from his meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he formally presented the Palestinian statehood bid.

In his speech at the fully packed Assembly hall, Abbas said, “I say to the Israelis, come to peace.”

The Palestinian president slammed the lengthy Israeli occupation as a colonial move, saying that the Jewish settlement threatens the two-state solution and the survival of the Palestinian Authority. The two-state solution, backed extensively by the international community, means an independent Palestinian State to live in peace with a secure Israel.

Despite mounting pressures, including the repeated U.S. veto threats, Abbas went ahead with the original plan to formally present the Palestinian request for the UN statehood recognition.

The Isareli-Palestinian conflict, seen as a big test for the international peace efforts, overwhelmed other matters here at the UN Headquarters in New York as 193 member states gathered here for the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly.

The Palestinian statehood bid, though strongly opposed by Israel and its close ally the United States, enjoys great support from most UN members, who have voiced their endorsement in the General Assembly.

Xinhua.

 

UN braces for Palestine’s entry bid

 

 

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that he will submit Palestine’s UN membership bid to the UN Security Council in the next two days in order to facilitate the voting.

Also on Friday, Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the UN General Assembly and present a letter to request Palestine’s accession to the UN.

Earlier, the US pledged to block Palestine’s bid, while Moscow signaled its readiness to recognize Palestine’s independence, a topic that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said should be resolved through a consensus.

VOR.

 Ban receives Palestinian application for UN membership – UN News
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