Palestinians will not end pursuit of nonmember status, senior official says

The Palestinian Authority will not give up its pursuit of UN nonmember status, Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Monday.

At a meeting in Amman with Arab League Secretary Nabil Elaraby and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Erekat said that the Palestinians “are not seeking a confrontation with America or to isolate Israel, but to isolate Israeli occupation and settlements, and to affirm the principle of the two states.”

Palestinian envoys were dispatched to Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Finland this week, hoping to persuade those countries to vote in favor of giving Palestinians non-member observer status at the UN. Some of the countries are opposed, and others are undecided.

“We are urging them to vote in favor of the Palestinian proposal,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said. “We hope this will clarify the picture for those countries.”

Palestinians say they intend to ask the UN’s General Assembly to vote on the matter on either November 15 or November 29.

Israel and the United States oppose the move, saying Palestinians should negotiate their statehood with the Jewish state, not conduct unilateral moves.