The Palestinian leadership remains "dead determined" to pursue UN membership even though its bid has hit a deadlock at the UN Security Council, its UN envoy said Friday. Envoy Riyad Mansour said the Palestinian leadership would "quickly" decide the next step after the UN Security Council's membership committee adopted a report Friday saying it could not decide on the application made by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on September 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. Abbas is to meet the Arab League representatives next week and some kind of decision on whether to seek a Security Council vote or try for super-observer status in a UN General Assembly vote is expected after that.