The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) denied Thursday, September 8 that it had submitted an official request to the United Nations to recognize Palestine as a member of the world body, explaining that the campaign launched in Ramallah earlier in the day was the work solely of grassroots activists.

The letter sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's office in Ramallah declaring the launch of a campaign to gain statehood recognition was not an official Palestinian Authority document, a spokesman for the PLO said Thursday, but rather a grassroots attempt to garner support ahead of the UN vote in later September.

In the letter, Palestinian officials reportedly urged the leader of the international community to “exert all possible efforts toward the achievement of the Palestinian people's just demands,” Haaretz reported.