Palestinian Authority FM says decision to postpone statehood bid came following US pressure and threats, along with failure to secure backing of 9 UNSC members.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki announced on Monday that the PA has decided to delay its statehood bid at the United Nations Security Council, which was supposed to take place at the end of this month.Malki told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency that the decision to postpone the statehood bid came following US pressure and threats, as well as the failure of the PA to secure the backing of nine Security Council members in favor of the statehood bid.PA President Mahmoud Abbas said two weeks ago that he was determined to proceed with his plan to seek a Security Council resolution that would set a timetable for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.Abbas was hoping that the resolution would declare all the territories captured by Israel in 1967, including east Jerusalem, as the lands of the future Palestinian state.Abbas and other PA officials repeatedly denied over the past few weeks that they had any intention to call off or delay the application to the Security Council.But Malki confirmed on Monday that the PA leadership has decided to postpone the move. He did not say whether the PA would resume its statehood bid any time in the near future.Malki said that the pre-occupation of the Security Council members with the Iranian issue in Vienna was another reason why the PA decided to delay the statehood bid.Fierce US opposition and threats to impose sanctions on the Palestinians were another reason behind the decision to postpone of the Security Council bid, he added.Malki also acknowledged that the PA has failed to win the support of nine Security Council members for the proposed resolution.
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