Palestinians to keep bidding for UN membership

The Palestinian leadership will keep bidding for a full membership in the United Nations until the Security Council votes on the Palestinian request, said Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Al-Maliki on Saturday. Al-Maliki's remarks came a day after the UN Security Council's admission committee failed to agree unanimously on passing the Palestinian application for voting. "We will continue our efforts and diplomatic battle even if we had to submit the request 1,000 times," Al-Maliki told Voice of Palestine Radio. "By this, we bolster our position, gain more support and get the full membership in the UN." The Palestinians accuse Washington of putting pressure on the Security Council members to prevent them from supporting the Palestinian request, which was submitted in September. Out of the needed nine votes to pass the application, the Palestinians could only muster eight votes from the council's 15 member states. Al-Maliki said that the Palestinians may seek a vote through the UN General Assembly "only if we were sure that this will empower our position in the Security Council." Through the General Assembly, the Palestinians could get a symbolic vote to upgrade their status to a non-member observer state. The Palestinians are unlikely to press for a voting session in the Security Council because the United States will use its veto to block their bid. The United States wanted the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations with Israel instead of seeking a state through the UN. But for the Palestinians, Israel must stop building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before the negotiations restart.