Abbas heads to New York to bid for UN membership

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is heading to New York Sunday with a senior delegation to attend the United Nations General Assembly and apply for full membership in the international body. Abbas will hold intensive meetings with world leaders to promote for the Palestinian move to get Palestine recognized as an independent state, said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al- Maliki. There are no plans for a bilateral meeting between Abbas and U. S. President Barack Obama, whose administration opposes the Palestinian approach to the UN and threatened to veto the Palestinian application through the Security Council, Al-Maliki told Voice of Palestine radio. Obama is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two men share the same view that the recognition of the Palestinian state should come through a negotiated peace agreement. The Palestinians will submit the request to the Security Council on Sept. 23, on the sidelines of the General Assembly's 66th regular session. Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu told his cabinet that he expected the Palestinian bid for the UN membership to fail. The Palestinians decided to seek recognition of their state via the UN in response to the failure of peace talks with Israel last year.