Egypt calls for int'l support for Palestine's UN bid

Egypt on Wednesday called on the international community to fully support the Palestinian efforts to win recognition in the United Nations and urged an end to "all forms of occupation of Arab lands". Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy made the call when speaking at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly, a week-long event which opened here on Tuesday. "I assure you of Egypt's full support to any course of action Palestine decides to follow in the United Nations," he said. "I call upon all of you, just as you have supported the revolutions of the Arab peoples, to lend your support to the Palestinians in their endeavors to regain the full and legitimate rights of a people struggling to gain its freedom and establish its independent state." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who will address the General Debate on Thursday, has asked the Palestinian delegation to the UN to start preparations for the draft resolution. The Palestinians decided go for the UN vote to gain a non- member state in the General Assembly after the peace process in the Middle East remained stalled since October 2010 due to disputes on the issue of Israeli settlements. Both Israel and the United States oppose the Palestinian bid and demand the Palestinians to resolve the conflict with Israel through direct peace negotiations. Palestine won membership last year in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), despite strong opposition from the United States and Israel. "The entire Palestinian leadership has charted a clear path towards the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people, within and outside Palestine," said Morsy. "The Arab world has given it its full support." "The latter has also presented a comprehensive peace initiative based on just peace," he said. One that restores the usurped rights of the Palestinian People, is founded on international legitimacy, and lays the foundation of an independent sovereign Palestinian state. One that also achieves the security and stability the peoples of the region have long been waiting for." This is the first address at the 193-member UN General Assembly since Morsy was declared winner on June 24 in the Egypt's first presidential election after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak. In his speech, Morsy called himself "the first Egyptian civilian President elected democratically and freely." Meanwhile, the Egyptian president also urged for an end to all forms of occupation of Arab lands and the Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. "I call for immediate and significant measures to put an end to colonization, settlement activities, and the alteration in the identity of Occupied Jerusalem," he added.