Palestinian UN bid launched

Palestinians protest for their right to a separate state. The US confirmed on Thursday that it will veto the Palestinian Authority’s bid to gain UN recognition of a Palestinian state. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the US decision “should not come as a shock” to Palestinians. Nuland stated that “the best route forward is to come back to the negotiating table.” The Palestinian Authority intends to apply for formal UN recognition at the meeting of the General Assembly on September 23rd. Although this would recognise Palestine along its 1967 lines, it is a largely symbolic move which the Palestinian Authority hopes would help boost its position in negotiations with Israel. Israeli officials are concerned that Palestinian recognition may strengthen its claims in bodies such as the International Criminal Court, which could see Israel accused of war crimes. It is also concerned that the statehood bid may heighten tensions within the Palestinian territories.
However, Palestinian officials have stated that they intend to hold only non-violent protests. After meeting with US representatives on Wednesday, Palestinian officials confirmed that they would push ahead with the bid. “We are going to the Security Council to protect the rights of the Palestinian people and the idea of a two-state solution,” president Mahmud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP. “We don’t want problems with the US administration but we are committed to negotiations based on the 1967 lines and a freeze on (Jewish) settlements,” he said.
US officials conceded that there was little chance of stopping the bid. Palestinian activists officially launched their campaign on Thursday, sending a letter to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, asking him to recognise Palestine as a UN member state.  The letter urges the Secretary General to add his "moral voice in support of the Palestinian people."  "Families of the tens of thousands of victims of Israeli occupation, including those martyred, wounded and imprisoned, and countless others who were expelled from their homes or lost their homes and their property, hope that you will exert all possible efforts toward the achievement of the Palestinian people's just demands," it says.
The letter was handed to UN officials at the organisation’s Ramallah office by a 70-year old Palestinian woman whose seven sons had been jailed by Israel. An eighth had been killed by the Israeli army. "Today we began our campaign on the ground and we chose the UN building because it represents the United Nations and we expect them to respond to our demands," the campaign coordinator Ahmed Assaf told AFP. "We are no less important than the other 193 states in the United Nations, and our message asks for our state to be 194."
Several events will be held in Palestine as part of the campaign and a chair embroidered with the word ‘Palestine’ with be flown around the world. However, despite US concerns that the bid will derail peace negotiations, the former-US Middle East Peace Envoy, George Mitchell, is optimistic about a peace agreement in the future. “There are tremendous obstacles to be overcome, not the least of which is the internal political situation on both sides,” Mitchell said. “We in this country see our country deeply divided on major political issues (and) ought not to be surprised similar circumstances exist in other countries and make it difficult for leaders to take the steps needed to get from their current positions to what I think is the essential outcome,” he added.
“In the short term, and I mean by that the next few months, it's difficult to be overly optimistic, to put it mildly,” he said. “But I believe that in the medium and longer term there is a basis for believing that they will be able to take those steps primarily because the current circumstance, in my judgment, is unsustainable and both societies face very large risks from a continuation of the conflict.”