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Ramallah: President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday
appealed for Arab financial support to help the Palestinians deal
with “pressures and threats” from Israel and its allies which he
said were a risk to his plan to seek UN approval for statehood in
September.
Writing in the Arabic newspaper Al-Watan,
Abbas said the Palestinians faced pressure from Israel and its
allies to prevent them from seeing through their planned
diplomatic action at September’s General Assembly meeting in New
York, reported Reuters news agency.
“We have not enjoyed the Arab
political and financial support needed to get through this
delicate period. These pressures and threats will continue and
reduce the chances of success,” Abbas wrote, without specifying
the threats.
Despite the pressure, he said he was
committed to seeing through the diplomatic offensive.
At the same time, Abbas thanked the
Arabs, particularly Saudi Arabia, for “continuous aid to their
Palestinian brothers. However their support now has a special
quality in supporting our diplomatic move which will help in
bringing peace closer.”
The Palestinian Authority faces a
financial crisis which forced it to cut wages by half in July.
Policymakers have identified a shortfall in Arab aid as the main
cause.
The crisis has highlighted the
financial fragility of the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority as
Abbas embarks on a diplomatic offensive opposed by the United
States, another of the Palestinians’ main donors and also Israel’s
main backer.
Abbas’ plan is to apply for a full
UN membership for the state of Palestine in the West Bank, the
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in
the 1967 Middle East war.
The United States is expected to use
its veto power in the Security Council to block the move, which it
sees as unhelpful to its efforts to bring about a negotiated end
to the conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state next
to Israel.
Facing the prospect of a US veto,
the Palestinians are also planning to seek a General Assembly
resolution upgrading their UN status to that of a non-member
state. Not requiring Security Council approval, that is expected
to pass.
Israel sees the plan as an attempt
to isolate and delegitimize it. Abbas said reasons for the move
included the fact that “bilateral negotiations have reached a dead
end.” He also said it would improve the chances of serious
negotiations.
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