Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urged United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday to assist Ramallah’s effort to obtain full-member status at the UN, ahead of the General Assembly’s annual high-level meeting.
Abbas’s office said that during the meeting, he also presented Guterres with a letter outlining the importance of the initiative.
“Despite all the complexities of the prevailing reality and all the frustrations that abound, there is still a last chance to salvage the role of the UN in peace,” reads a summary of the closed letter tweeted out by the Palestinian Mission to the UN. “UN Membership for Palestine is a necessary step towards achieving the ultimate objective of an independent, free and peaceful State of Palestine.”
In 2012, the General Assembly voted to grant the Palestinians observer status at the UN, a largely symbolic rank but one that has allowed them to join over 100 international treaties and conventions as a state party.
