Denmark to support Palestine at UN General Assembly

[oberliner]

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Denmark said Monday that it would vote in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution to upgrade the status of Palestine in the world body.

"If the Palestinians choose to put a proposal to the UN General Assembly on an upgrade to the Palestinian status, Denmark will be among the large group of Nordic and EU countries who I expect to vote in favor of the resolution," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal said in a statement.

PLO official Nabil Shaath met with Sovndal in Denmark on Monday to discuss the political situation. The foreign minister stressed that "it is important that the parties go back to the negotiating table, which is the only place that a final solution to the conflict can be found."

A statement from Shaath's office in Ramallah on Tuesday said that the ruling coalition in Denmark completely backed the Palestinian position and opposed Israeli policy on settlement issues.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=438552

Security Council vote seemed imminent not too long ago. Now it looks like things are going in another direction.

[bemildred]

1. Any good movie has plot twists.

This is kind of what I expected to actually happen, more the death of a thousands cuts than one big surge forward, more about making noise than doing anything in particuar, trying for better negotiating leverage, as with the babble of Bibi and Ehud and Avigdor. Abbas is exploiting a new tactic and it clearly annoys the Israeli government, so I expect we will see lots of it.

[Tesha]

2. Good news!

The faster the Palestinians are granted statehood,
the better! Ultimately, it's probably inevitable so the
few die-hard national opponents might as well get
used to it.

Tesha