Abbas eyes new upgrade of Palestinian UN status:

France, Denmark, Spain to back bid

RAMALLAH: The Palestinians head to the United Nations today in a bid to upgrade their status in a move likely to bring them new global recognition but also harsh repercussions.

President Mahmud Abbas will personally submit the request seeking to upgrade their rank from an observer entity to that of a non-member observer state before the UN General Assembly.

If the request is approved by the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly, it will give the Palestinians access to a range of UN agencies and also potentially to the International Criminal Court.

But Thursday's resolution is likely to pass easily, requiring only a simple majority to go through.

“We are going to the United Nations fully confident in our steps. We will have our rights because you are with us,” Abbas told a gathering of around a thousand people who rallied in Ramallah on Sunday.

“We ask for a just peace, which is agreed on by the international community which will give us our state with east Jerusalem as its capital. Without that, there is no hope at all,” he said.

As Abbas took off from Amman for New York, France and Denmark and Denmark announced it would vote in favour of the resolution in what is widely seen as strong show of support for Abbas.

However the United States publicly disagreed with France, one of its closest allies, late Tuesday.

Meanwhile,Denmark will back a Palestinian bid to upgrade its United Nations status to that of a non-member observer state at a General Assembly vote this week, the Danish foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

“I am happy to announce that Denmark will vote in favour ... (in) the vote on Thursday,” Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Spain said Wednesday it will back a Palestinian bid for enhanced UN status and new global recognition at a General Assembly vote this week.

“Spain will vote 'yes' tomorrow to the Palestinian request in line with our history and because we believe it is the most appropriate solution to move towards peace,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told Parliament.

France is the first major European power to voice approval of the Palestinian move to upgrade its current permanent observer status, while Britain has said it has yet to decide on its position.

AFP