Palestine’s Abbas to repeat UN bid at Arab League summit

PanARMENIAN.Net - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will make his case for a repeat attempt to win full UN membership for Palestine at the Arab League summit in Baghdad, said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top Abbas aide, RIA Novosti reported.

Abbas submitted Palestine's official application for recognition as an independent state in the UN in September 2011. That bid foundered after the U.S. vowed to veto it in the Security Council.

“We understand that the priority for the summit is the Syrian issue and the difficult situation in that country, but it’s impossible to leave the Palestinian issue aside due to the failure of the peace process and Israel's refusal to halt settlement activity in our territory,” Rabbo said.

Radio station Voice of Palestine reported that Mahmoud Abbas would arrive in Baghdad on Thursday morning to participate in the 23rd Arab League summit, which is being held in Iraq for first time since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Earlier Secretary General of the Arab League Nabil al-Arabi said that the situation in Syria will be discussed, but the resignation of President Bashar Assad will not be addressed.