Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Thursday 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. On Tuesday, Malki said that Nigeria, a non-permamnent 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. Malki said that the Palestinians will focus their attention on persuading either Bosnia and Herzegovina or Columbia to offer their vote in favor of the resolution.
While Israel has insisted it is willing to immediately return to peace talks without pre-conditions as per the the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediator's initiative, the PA has been adamant about following through with the UN move.
Malki pointed out last Saturday that the Quartet initiative, which was launched over the weekend after PA President Mahmoud Abbas submitted to UN General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon an official request for full membership in the UN, does not call for a cessation of settlement construction or for a pullout to the pre-1967 lines.
The UN Security Council will discuss the Palestinian application on Wednesday morning.
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