Argentine president: Palestinian UN bid aids peace

Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has told the UN that blocking Palestinian membership at the world body would lend credence to terrorists. "I pray to God to illuminate those who have to make the transcendent and structural decisions in the world to achieve a better balance" and a Palestinian state, an official translation of her address by the country''s Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority said here on Thursday. The Argentina premier said she supported Palestine taking the 194th seat at the UN "in order to contribute to a more secure and just world." Fernandez added: "To prevent the access of Palestine to the United Nations is to give arguments to the international terrorists, since there they find the arguments to their crimes." For his part, President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Fernandez for the "courage of her words," the Representative Office said. Argentina declared its recognition of an independent Palestinian state in late 2010. On Tuesday hundreds of protesters marched to the local UN headquarters in Buenos Aires in support of Palestine''s push for UN recognition, Reuters reported. The marchers waved signs and chanted in the streets of the Argentine capital, backing President Abbas'' resolve for full UN membership for a Palestinian state.