(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Jordan supports the Palestinian Authority in its bid to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said Saturday.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle, Judeh reiterated that the Palestinian issue remains central to the region despite all the latest developments.
Westerwelle, who is due in Ramallah following his visit to Jordan, said he would meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, reiterating that Germany strongly supports the two-state solution.
He stressed that the solution should be reached through direct negotiations between all rivals, commending Jordan's efforts to bring officials from both sides back to the negotiating table.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he will make a bid on September 27 to obtain non-member status at the United Nations, Agence France-Presse reported.
"We will go to the UN General Assembly for consultations with our friends on the draft resolution calling for the upgrade of Palestine [to non-member status]" in the United Nations, Abbas said in a televised address.
"We are going to the UN to say that we are a state which applies the fourth Geneva convention [on the protection of civilians in time of war]. There are 133 countries that recognise us as a state with East Jerusalem as its capital and where we have embassies hoisting the Palestinian flag," he said, according to AFP.
Palestinians now have observer status at the UN.
Palestinians are assured that the resolution will pass with a large majority. Such a resolution needs the support of more than half of the 194 UN member states.
"Owing to the automatic majority [at the General Assembly] we will not be able to prevent this decision," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Israeli public radio, AFP reported.
"Our policy leans towards Western democratic countries. If we succeed in forming a bloc of 50 to 60 nations opposed [to the Palestinian initiative], the decision will be taken but will be void of all political significance," he said.
In September 2011, Abbas made a high-profile effort to obtain full-member status at the UN, but the request was never put to a vote in the Security Council, where the United States had pledged to veto it.
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