BREAKING NEWS

Germany: We will abstain on Palestinian statehood bid at UN

BERLIN - Germany will abstain in a vote on Thursday at the UN General Assembly on changing the Palestinians' diplomatic status, which is widely seen as an indirect bid for UN recognition of statehood.
"We did not take this decision lightly. Germany shares the goal of a Palestinian state. We have campaigned for this in many ways... but the decisive steps towards real statehood can only be the result of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.