The Palestinians will not be able to secure a UN Security Council majority in favor of their bid to become a UN member state, Israeli Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser predicted yesterday.
Speaking on Israeli military radio, Hauser said the Palestinians would fail to obtain the nine yes votes they need to keep alive their hopes of becoming a member state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War.
“A state can only be created by the Security Council, not the General Assembly, and the Palestinians do not have a majority at the Security Council, so there will not be a Palestinian state,” said Hauser, who is a confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, acting as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, is expected to submit the membership bid on Friday, when he will also address the General Assembly.
“The Palestinians will change their attitude when they realize that their unilateral initiative is going nowhere and will lead them directly to stalemate,” Hauser said.
“In New York we will see who is the one who refuses to extend their hand for peace and who will do it,” he said.
The Palestinians have said they believe they can win the nine yes votes needed for their membership bid to pass the Security Council, but the US is expected to veto the request, effectively sinking it.
If Washington does veto the bid, the Palestinians are expected to then turn to the UN General Assembly, where they believe they will easily secure the votes needed to upgrade their representation to a non-state observer level.
Hauser said such an upgrade would “have no significance.”
He said Israel continued to call on the Palestinians to drop the UN bid and resume negotiations, saying Israel was ready to hold talks.
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