As Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in New York ahead of his appeal for UN non-member observer status later this week, British daily The Daily Telegraph reported Monday Palestinian general delegate to the EU Leila Shahid as claiming Britain has “a historic responsibility” to support the Palestinian bid for statehood, due to its role as a former colonial power to the pre-Israel state.
"After everything that has happened in the Arab Spring, Britain can't pretend it is in favour of democracy in Libya, Syria and Egypt but accepts the Palestinians continuing to live under occupation," she added, according to the paper.
Ahead of his departure to the US, Abbas told supporters in Ramallah he was “fully confident” of the likely success of his appeal to the UN, as he told them “we will have our rights because you are with us”.
Israel and the US are staunch opponents of the bid, however, despite Britain’s outward calls for the PA to abandon its compromised appeal, in light of the failure of its appeal for unilateral statehood at the UN last year, Britain like Germany and other EU nations has yet to officially declare whether it will vote in favour or against the resolution at the planned vote this week.
Ahead of the eight-day Gaza escalation which began nearly a fortnight ago and in expectation of a later-abandoned visit to Paris by Abbas, French President Francois Hollande appeared to give his backing to the UN bid, in telling a press conference at the Elysee Palace that, despite his calls for an immediate resumption of direct talks between Israel and the PA, “the appeal could also force these direct talks to open on acceptable foundations, which is to say that of two states”.
Appearing to backtrack from giving his outright support to the motion, however, he insisted that “if there is a resolution (at the UN General Assembly), France will look at it in context and take whatever position seems the best,” added Hollande, emphasising that the “risk for our Palestinian friends (is) to see Americans take responsive measures without advancing the cause of talks between Israel and Palestine”.
Despite the possibly disparate position of the 27 EU member states at the UN General Assembly vote, it is thought that a majority could well be achieved in favour of non-member status for the PA even without European support.