The Palestinians will renew a bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations, a move which could strengthen their statehood claims after talks with Israel stalled.Palestinians are listed as a UN observer “entity” with no voting rights. They asked to be made a non-member observer state at the UN General Assembly on Thursday.Such status would be an indirect recognition of their claims on statehood in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. It would allow them to join a number of UN agencies, as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC).The Palestinians say Israeli settlement-building on occupied West Bank land has stymied prospects for a bilateral statehood deal. Disagreement over the issue led to negotiations stalling in 2010.Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee member, described the bid as a “last-ditch effort”.“We believe the two-state solution is in jeopardy because of [Israeli] actions. We want to ensure that the world is still committed to the establishment of a sovereign viable democratic free Palestinian state to interact as an equal,” she said on Wednesday.A simple majority vote in the 193-member General Assembly would be enough to bestow non-member observer status, bypassing the Security Council - where the US, Israel’s ally, has a veto.
