The Palestinian Authority (PA) has officially renewed its push for full membership in the United Nations and has turned to the Security Council on the matter, JPost reported on Thursday.
"We are negotiating in good faith with all [UNSC] members," PA Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour was quoted as having told reporters in New York.
"There is cautious optimism in the atmosphere," he added.
PA officials have spoken with their American counterparts about the matter, Mansour said, adding that this includes US President Joe Biden and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Mansour said late last month that the PA leadership is conducting talks at the highest levels with the aim of demanding full membership of “the State of Palestine” in the United Nations.
On Thursday, the PA envoy said that given that the peace process has been frozen for eight years and that there is no initiative on the table, the issue of full UN membership should move forward.
Full recognition of “Palestine” as a member state is a way to salvage the two-state solution, Mansour stated, adding that such a measure would be an investment in peace.
His comments come a day after US and PA sources told Barak Ravid of Axios that the Biden administration has urged the PA not to pursue a vote at the UN Security Council on gaining full UN membership, stressing it will likely veto any such move.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the “state of Palestine” when it upgraded the PA’s UN observer status to non-member state.
The PA previously announced in 2019 it would launch a bid to become a full member of the United Nations.
Two weeks later, however, Mansour announced the PA was dropping its bid to become a full member of the UN, likely due to the fact that US would more than likely have vetoed any Security Council resolution granting the PA full membership of the global body.