Palestinians predict historic UN vote on statehood

Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, was confident on Tuesday that a large number of countries would vote in favour of a resolution that would give Palestine non-UN member state status.

Speaking at a news conference in the UN Headquarters in New York, Mansour announced a Special General Assembly meeting on Thursday where the resolution would be decided.

Mansour said that "the great majority of nations will vote with us... because there is a global consensus on the 'two-state solution'".

He was pleased that strenuous efforts to get European countries to vote in favour of the resolution had paid off, saying he was "delighted that a certain number have declared their support to our draft resolution, including France and other key EU countries."

The United States and Israel strongly oppose the resolution, and there are fears it could torpedo Palestinian hopes of quickly resuming negotiations with Israel to end their decades-old conflict.

Israeli officials have already said they will not return to negotiations after the vote to determine Palestinian statehood and believe it instead undermines hopes for a peace deal.

Mansour said attempts at Thursday's assembly to save the 'two-state solution' through diplomatic methods was an alternative to the option of war and destruction that had already been tried.

The General Assembly vote to raise the Palestinians' status from a UN observer to a nonmember observer state coincides with the "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People", just a week after a cease-fire ended eight days of punishing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and intense rocketing of the Jewish state by Gaza's Hamas rulers that reached Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly and the resolution is virtually certain of approval.

The 193-member world body is dominated by countries sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and the resolution only requires a majority vote for approval.

The Palestinians are seeking to enhance their status because their application in September 2011 to become a full UN Member state has been blocked.

To become a member state, an applicant must be approved by the UN Security Council and the United States has made clear it would veto the bid until there is a final settlement with Israel.

If the vote passes allowing the Palestinians to become a nonmember observer state, Palestine will be accorded the same status as the Vatican.