PNA hopes for enough votes

The Palestinians have secured eight Security Council “yes” votes for their UN membership bid, just one short of the nine they need, Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki said on Thursday. Maliki told mediapersons he had received assurances from two additional nations, Nigeria and Gabon, that they would vote in favour of the Palestinian bid for full state membership at the UN. “We have eight states that will vote for Palestine in the Security Council,” he said. “We are working hard to have a ninth and a tenth.” The Palestinians need to secure at least nine Security Council votes in favour of their membership bid for it to be approved and advanced to the General Assembly. Even with the requisite nine votes, the United States has pledged to use its veto to block the request, but the Palestinians hope they can at least claim a diplomatic victory by securing a majority in the Security Council. Maliki said the Palestinians have assurances of “yes” votes from Lebanon, Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, in addition to the new confirmations from Nigeria and Gabon. “We are working on Bosnia, Colombia and Portugal,” he added, saying he was scheduled to visit Bosnia shortly, and President Mahmoud Abbas will make stops in Colombia, Portugal, Honduras and the Dominican Republic in October. Abbas will also deliver an address in Strasbourg on Oct.6, he said. Abbas submitted the bid on Friday, shortly before he delivered a historic address to the General Assembly, urging their support for the request. After closed-door debate on Monday, the Security Council on Wednesday referred the request to a committee set to meet on Friday. The bid has attracted criticism from Washington and divided the membership of the European Union, raising the prospect that the Security Council might seek to delay a vote altogether to avoid embarrassing its members. ( from the gulf today )