By REUTERS
RAMALLAH - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas vowed "no retreat" from plans to seek full UN membership for a Palestinian state next week, despite a last minute diplomatic push from the United States and European Union to dissuade him."Going to the United Nations to request full membership for Palestine in the international organization is an inevitable thing and there is no retreat from it," the official Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Abbas as saying in an Egyptian TV interview on Wednesday."Despite the pressures exercised on us, Palestine will go to the United Nations on the 23rd of the current month to request full membership," he added. Abbas is scheduled to address the General Assembly on that day.
Freed Hamas hostage Ori Magidish to light Independence Day torch
