PA seeks status upgrade for Palestine

In another step towards statehood, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is submitting a resolution to the United Nations to enhance Palestine’s status to “observer state” from an observer “entity,” to the dismay of the US and Israel.

The resolution, whose draft was circulated to UN member states on Thursday, could be put to a vote at the UN General Assembly later this month, Reuters reported.
The resolution accords to “Palestine Observer State status in the United Nations system, without prejudice to the acquired rights, privileges, and role of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people,” according to the draft.

The resolution also “reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the basis of the pre-1967 borders.”

In 1967, Israeli forces captured the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East al-Quds (Jerusalem). The Israeli military carried out a so-called withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, but has kept the territory under recurrent deadly attacks.

In 2011, a similar campaign towards Palestinian statehood failed because of opposition from Israel and its oldest and strongest ally, the United States.