Seeking support for statehood, Abbas arrives in Bogota

PA president is on South American tour to garner support from countries sitting on the Security Council, will meet with Colombian president.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
PA President Mahmoud Abbas arrives in Colombia 311 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS/John Vizcaino)
PA President Mahmoud Abbas arrives in Colombia 311 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS/John Vizcaino)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Colombia Monday as part of a Latin American tour aimed at garnering support for the PA's statehood bid in the United Nations. Colombia currently sits in the 15-member UN Security Council, where the PA submitted a request for full UN membership last month.
Abbas was scheduled to meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday.
RELATED:Abbas: We'll return to talks if settlement building stops Abbas, Malki to visit UNSC countries in statehood push
Late last month, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad al Malki said that the Palestinians have received approval from eight members of the UN Security Council in support of their bid for full membership to the United Nations.
If nine members of the Security Council vote in favor of the Palestinian state bid, the the resolution will pass, unless one of the council's five permanent members uses a veto.
While the US, one of those five, has said before that it would veto the Palestinian resolution, it has also stated that it would rather not be forced to use the veto.
The Palestinians, however, have been rigorous in garnering support from Security Council members. Last month, Malki said that Nigeria, a non-permanent member of the UNSC, had joined seven other nations in throwing their support behind the Palestinian-membership resolution, despite the fact that Defense Minister Ehud Barak seemed to think he had persuaded Nigeria away from the Palestinian bid.
According to Malki, the eight Security Council members who will back the resolution are Russia, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Gabon - a Central African Nation that Israel media was reporting as being "on the fence" about the issue.
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