Al Arabiya, United Nations, 11 Nov 2011 – The Palestinian leadership remains “dead determined” to pursue U.N. membership even though its bid has hit a deadlock at the U.N. Security Council, its U.N. envoy said Friday.

Envoy Riyad Mansour said the Palestinian leadership would “quickly” decide the next step after the U.N. Security Council’s membership committee adopted a report Friday saying it could not decide on the application made by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Sept. 23.

The United States has threatened to veto the bid at any full Security Council vote and member nations have made it clear that it would not get the required nine votes out of 15 to approve membership.
“We will consult with our friends, intensify our efforts and we are dead determined to succeed in this exercise and I believe that we will,” Mansour told reporters, according to AFP.

The decision by the council’s admissions committee brought the Palestinian Authority’s push for U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, one step closer to collapse.

It is now up to Palestinians, who have so far been unable to secure the nine votes needed to pass a Security Council resolution favoring their U.N. bid, to decide whether or not to call a vote on their application.

Abbas on Friday said the United States’ opposition to U.N. membership for his aspiring state showed Washington was not serious about brokering peace.

“They need to be more serious in their role as mediators between us and the Israelis,” Abbas told reporters in Tunis, where he arrived on Thursday for an official visit, according to AFP.

The Palestinians “will continue their efforts to attain full U.N. membership,” he said, adding that he was due to meet a senior U.S. official on Saturday.

The Palestinians currently have only eight supporters, diplomats say. If the Palestinian delegation chooses to force a vote without securing nine votes, the United States would not need to use its veto power to block it.

A draft report of the committee, which includes all 15 council members, detailed the deadlock among council members. Now that the committee has formally approved it, the issue will revert back to the Security Council.

“The Council will receive the report and will discuss any future initiative,” said Portuguese envoy Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, council president for November, Reuters reported.

“The Palestinian leadership and the Arabs are considering various options, including that of French President Nicolas Sarkozy which involves asking the General Assembly to upgrade Palestine to a (UN) non-member state,” Nimr Hammad, political adviser to Palestinian President Abbas, told AFP.

Abbas applied for full U.N. membership for the state of Palestine on Sept. 23.

Israel and the United States oppose the Palestinian bid for membership and recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, saying it is aimed at de-legitimizing Israel. They say the only way Palestine can get statehood is via peace talks with Israel.

On Sept. 21, Sarkozy proposed that the U.N. General Assembly upgrade the Palestinians’ status from observer entity to that of a non-member state as a compromise solution aimed at heading off a confrontation over their seeking full state membership.

Upgrading their status would only require a simple majority in the General Assembly and is certain to pass easily.

Such a move would allow the Palestinians to join many U.N. organizations or international treaties, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians.

But a decision on what direction to take will only be reached when the Palestinian leadership meets after Friday’s U.N. meeting, Hammad said, indicating they would also discuss the issue with the Arab League.

“There are lots of options, starting with a return to the Security Council when the non-permanent members change,” he said, referring to an upcoming rotation which will see five of the 10 non-permanent council members replaced in January.

“We could also turn to the General Assembly, or to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for an advisory opinion,” Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki told Voice of Palestine radio.

“We have applied for full U.N. membership for the State of Palestine through the Security Council and we will continue until we get that,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

After the report is presented, the Palestinians will “begin consultations with Arab and geopolitical groups, including the Non-Aligned Movement and the African Group,” Erakat said.