"The Palestinian leadership is considering turning to international institutions including the UN afresh, if US President Donald Trump's administration fails to revive a 'serious' peace process, Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad said on Monday.
'We are giving the Americans a chance to move a serious peace process forward and we hope they succeed, but if they fail to make progress, we will turn to international institutions including the United Nations to request full membership,' Ahmad said in a phone interview.
The Palestinian leadership submitted a formal application to gain full membership in the UN in 2011, but it was rejected because it had insufficient support from the UN Security Council. The Palestinian leadership could try to gain full membership again by submitting another membership application, but US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley would likely block it. Haley has consistently defended the Israeli government since arriving at the UN...
If the Palestinian leadership decides to turn to international institutions, it would not be a novel policy. Since the failure of peace talks in 2011, the Palestinian leadership has applied for membership in tens of international organizations and sought to challenge Israeli policies in many of them.
Since Trump assumed office, however, the Palestinian leadership has significantly put the breaks on its international activity, refraining from pushing for new Security Council resolutions and other measures. The one exception is that Palestinian leadership initiated two UNESCO resolutions on Hebron and Jerusalem, which were approved in July.
Two other senior Palestinian officials said the possibility of engaging with international institutions to confront Israeli policies is being studied, but would not elaborate...
Sources in the Foreign Ministry said there is currently no indication that the Palestinians are planning to take any concrete measures at the UN.
'There might be something as we get closer to the General Assembly meeting,' one source said, 'but right now there is nothing.'..."