Abbas asks Arab nations for support to seek UN recognition

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will ask Arab states to support the Palestinian drive to seek recognition from the United Nations, a Palestinian official said Saturday.

The demand to support the move to the United Nations is among the issues Abbas will raise with the Arab League's committee that oversees the Palestinian-Israeli affairs during its meeting on Saturday in Doha, said Taysser Khaled, a member of the PLO's executive committee.

The Palestinians will go to the U.N. General Assembly in September "to demand it to recognize a Palestinian state on the lands that were occupied in 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital," Khaled said.

Abbas will also ask the conferees to launch political and diplomatic campaign with other countries to secure their votes on the Palestinian state in September, according to Khaled.

"It is not enough that the committee issues a statement supporting the Palestinians after its meeting," Khaled said, demanding the committee to "visit some influential countries, especially those in the European Union, to support the Palestinian decision to go to the U.N.."

The Palestinians decided to go to the United Nations after U.S.- brokered peace talks failed in September due to resumption of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

Posted in: Abbas asks Arab nations for support to seek UN recognition