Israel to fight PA request for statehood status at UN conference

June environmental assembly in Brazil expected to draw 50,000 participants, including 100 heads of state

Less than a year after receiving full membership status with the United Nation’s cultural arm, Palestinian Authority officials are launching a new campaign to receive similar status at an upcoming United Nations sustainable development conference.

Rio+20 — the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) — is to be held June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Palestinian Authority will submit an official request on Thursday for recognition as an “observer state” at the conference.

The status would be a promotion over its current “permanent observer” status.

Israel is reportedly concerned that granting full membership to the Palestinian Authority at Rio+20 would simply provide them with an additional platform from which to attack Israel. Maariv quoted an unnamed diplomatic source saying that the obvious politicization of the conference would damage the advance of the world’s environmental issues, and that many in the UN are fully aware of this.

According to Army Radio, Israel is working with the United States and Canada to prevent conference approval of the requested status upgrade for the Palestinian Authority. Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, whose office will represent Israel at Rio+20, said that “while [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas is making false statements about his readiness to negotiate, he continues sending PA representatives to act unilaterally in the UN in order to receive the status of a country, and try to embarrass and attack Israel.”

In late October of last year, UNESCO recognized Palestine as an observer state, much to the chagrin of Israel and the United States. In the wake of that move, Washington cut off funding to the cultural organization.

The Rio+20 conference is set to bring together world leaders and government officials, nongovernmental organizations and members of the private sector in the hopes of finding solutions to world poverty, social inequality and environmental protection throughout the world. The conference convenes once every 10 years.

Approximately 50,000 people are expected to attend the conference, among them 100 heads of state, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron recently canceled their participation in the conference, according to Agence-France Presse.