France, Spain to back Palestinian UN bid

France will support a Palestinian bid for non-member U.N. "observer state" status, the foreign minister said, and Spain will do the same, El Pais reported. "Thursday or Friday, when the question is asked, France will reply, 'Yes,'" Laurent Fabius told the French Parliament's lower house National Assembly Tuesday. The U.N. General Assembly in New York is to debate the measure to upgrade Palestinian status from that of a non-member "observer entity" Thursday. That day is the 65th anniversary of the U.N. decision to partition the territory of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The plan envisioned the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and a special international regime for Jerusalem. The General Assembly adopted a resolution Nov. 29, 1947, recommending the adoption and implementation of the plan. The Palestinian U.N. upgrade would imply recognition of Palestinian statehood, Fabius told lawmakers. But the "concrete expression of a Palestinian state" would come only through negotiations "without conditions" between Palestinians and Israel, he said. Spain is also expected to vote in favor of the upgrade, despite a warning from Israel that such a move could limit Spain's influence in any future peace talks, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. Britain is also inclined to support the Palestinian move, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The Netherlands and Italy, which were earlier expected to vote against the measure, will now probably abstain, the Israeli Foreign Ministry was quoted by Haaretz as saying. The ministry now expects at least 15 of the 27 EU countries to vote in favor of the Palestinian resolution, with only Germany and the Czech Republic expected to vote against it, Haaretz said. All told, at least 150 of 193 U.N. members are likely to support the move, the ministry said. The General Assembly is the only U.N. organ in which all member nations have equal representation. France is a permanent member of the Security Council, a separate U.N. organ charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Russia and China, two other permanent members, have said they would support the Palestinian bid. The two remaining permanent Security Council members are the United States and Britain. Washington has said it would vote against the bid. Israel will no longer punish the Palestinians the day after the U.N. vote, as it threatened, and will continue to honor the 1993 Oslo Accords, Haaretz said. Sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the newspaper the government -- realizing General Assembly approval is inevitable -- now sought to describe the vote as merely technical and procedural or as a symbolic Palestinian victory devoid of diplomatic significance. But Israel does plan to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under the Oslo Accords, the newspaper said. For instance, Israel will stop ignoring the Palestinians' infringement of agreements between the sides, the newspaper said. In the coming months it will also deduct Palestinian debts, including more than $181 million in debt to Israel Electric Corp., from tax revenues Israel collects for the Palestinians, Haaretz said. The move, allowed under the Oslo Accords, would stop two or three payments of Israel's monthly tax-money transfer to the PA, the newspaper said.