Abbas: UN Debate on Statehood Will Take Weeks, Not Months

US-Israeli efforts to obstruct the Palestinian Authority's efforts at the UN have failed

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he expected the Security Council to finish debating Palestine’s application for full United Nations membership within weeks, instead of months.

Abbas told reporters after his official submission request that members of the Security Council were initially unenthusiastic about the bid, but that his speech seemed to change their minds and gained their support.

The US and Israel are the most vocal opposition to Palestine’s bid for statehood, in the minority that do oppose it. They have urged the Palestinians to return to the failed peace talks immediately, but the Palestinian Authority has refused until after their efforts at the UN.

A proposal by the Quartet was rejected by Palestinians because it did not even mention a settlement freeze and an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, illustrating again how inflexible they are on the conflict’s core issues.

Author: John Glaser

John Glaser writes for Antiwar.com.