Later this week, the Palestinian Authority will seek to upgrade its status at the United Nations from a permanent observer state to that of a non-member state. According to Voice of America, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the General Assembly on Thursday will be followed by a vote.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced on Tuesday that France will back Palestine's statehood ambitions and said his country would vote yes "out of concern for coherency," the BBC reported.
As he addressed parliament, Laurent said that France has supported recognition of a Palestinian state "for years and years." He added, "That is why when the question is raised on Thursday and Friday, France will respond with a 'yes'."
According to the BBC, French President Francois Hollande's campaign pledge included supporting international recognition of Palestine. France, which is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is the first major European country to support Palestine's bid, the news organization reported.
On the other hand, Germany is expected to vote against the measure and the UK remains undecided. Not surprisingly, Israel and the United States are opposed to Palestine's status bid. The BBC reported that the two allies are worried that the Palestinian Authority will seek full statehood through the UN instead of through negotiations set in the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at Voice of America, "We do not think that this step is going to bring the Palestinian people any closer to a state. That we think it is a mistake. That we oppose it. That we will oppose it."
In Australia, Prime Minister Julia Gillard's previous announcement to her Cabinet that Australia would vote against the status bid received vigorous opposition, The Australian reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper, Australia has decided to abstain from voting instead.
If Palestine is granted an upgrade in status, it would then be allowed to participate in General Assembly debates and would have improved chances of joining UN agencies and the International Criminal Court (ICC), BBC reported. The latest bid is a follow up to a failed full membership attempt in 2011 by Abbas.
According to the BBC, the new bid also includes a resolution to the settlement disputes with Israel that "fulfils the vision of two states, an independent, sovereign, democratic, contiguous and viable state of Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel, on the basis of the pre-1967 borders." However, Israel is against pulling back to the 1967 borderlines.
The enhanced status for the Palestinian Authority could prove harmful economically and could aggravate relations with Israel and the United States, Voice of America reported. However, George Washington University Political Science Professor Edmund Ghareeb said it might be Palestine's only option.
He said, "In the long term there is no alternative for the Palestinians but to make their case, to bring it up before international public opinion, because their case has been ignored, marginalized, not taken seriously and it has weakened the position of the Palestinians."
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