Abbas: Palestinians may accept non-member state status at UN

The Palestinians, who saw their full United Nations membership bid rejected by the Security Council, may accept non-member state status, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Friday. He told reporters during a Paris visit that if Israel did not resume peace negotiations, "we will of course go to the (UN) General Assembly to obtain non-member status, as was the case for Switzerland and the Vatican". The Palestinians applied for full membership of the UN last September but application hit deadlock at the Security Council where the United States threatened to veto any recommendation in support of the Palestinian bid. The United States and Israel argue that only direct Palestinian-Israeli talks can produce a definitive peace accord. French President Francois Hollande, who met Abbas during his Paris visit, said Friday that "we must do everything to facilitate the recognition of a Palestinian state via a negotiated process". Direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians on a peace deal remain in deep freeze after grinding to a halt in late 2010 over the issue of Jewish settlement construction.