STATEHOOD

Palestine Seeks U.N. Status Upgrade

Abbas says aim is to become full-member state.

There were no diagrams accompanying this speech. At the gathering of world leaders on Thursday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas requested nonmember observer status from the United Nations to be granted by the end of the year. The Palestine Liberation Organization has permanent observer status, which does not allow it to participate in General Assembly debates. Should Abbas’s request be granted, it would boost Palestine’s chances of joining agencies within the U.N. and the International Criminal Court. Abbas announced at the General Assembly that talks had begun with “regional organizations and member states” to push toward this goal. Later in the day at the assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed his country’s opposition to “unilateral declaration of statehood” for Palestine and focused instead on nuclear concerns in Iran.