Live
- We've to harness our bench strength and the core group of shooters, says NRAI chief Kalikesh Singh
- Apple Updates Vintage and Obsolete Product List: iPhone XS Max, 6s Plus Now Included
- Rudra FC finish MFC Women's Elite Division as runners up, take big step closer to IWL 2
- Rafael Nadal gets emotional tribute from Roger Federer
- Big Data in Action: Transforming Financial Institutions Worldwide with Advanced Analytics
- Karan Arjun Re-release: Director Rakesh Roshan Reflects on 30 Years of the Classic
- Secunderabad Cantonment MLA Pays Tribute to Indira Gandhi on Her Birth Anniversary
- SpaceX Starship Launch: Sixth Test Flight Scheduled for November 20
- Top Women Entrepreneurs: Driving Innovation And Growth
- EU FMs discuss Ukraine, no common position on lifting weapons restrictions
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address UN Security Council on February 20 amid US tensions
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the United Nations Security Council on February 20 during the body\'s monthly meeting on the Middle East amid tensions over the United States decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel\'s capital.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the United Nations Security Council on February 20 during the body's monthly meeting on the Middle East amid tensions over the United States decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Since President Donald Trump broke from decades of United States policy with his Dec. 6 announcement on Jerusalem, Abbas has said he will ask the council to grant full UN membership to the Palestinians and will only accept an internationally-backed panel to broker any peace talks with Israel.
"This will be a good thing for members of the Security Council to listen to the president himself," said Kuwait's UN Ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi, president of the council for February. "No council members rejected this proposal."
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council last week that Abbas lacked "the courage and the will to seek peace."
Trump has threatened to withhold aid to the Palestinians if they did not pursue peace with Israel but Abbas has said the United States had taken itself "off the table" as a peace mediator in recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon accused Abbas of "seeking to put an end to any possibility of negotiations with Israel" with his address to the 15-member Security Council.
"Abbas is completely misreading today's reality and harming the prospects for a better future for his people," Danon said in a statement on Thursday.
Al-Otaibi said Israel had not yet asked to send a high-level representative to the council meeting.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly granted de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state when it upgraded their status to a "non-member state" from an "entity."
However, the UN Security Council has to recommend a state for full membership to the General Assembly, which then needs to approve it with a two-thirds majority. The United States would likely veto a Palestinian bid in the Security Council.
In December the 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favour. A total of 128 countries backed the resolution, which is non-binding, nine voted against and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote.
