CAIRO: Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi announced that China will formally support the upcoming bid for Palestinian membership at the United Nations, stating that a two-state solution is the key to peace in the Middle East. “China consistently supports the just cause of establishing an independent Palestinian state and supports Palestine's membership in the United Nations,” he said to the press on Monday. China is the eighth member of the Security Council to pledge support for the Palestinian bid. This means that Palestine needs one more vote from the Security Council ballot to reach the nine vote minimum they need to push their vote on to the UN General Assembly. However, the United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council, has the power to derail the vote with a veto, which they have vowed to do. “We hope that the international community and parties concerned will make unremitting efforts toward this end and sustain the Middle East peace process,” said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on the Palestinian radio channel Voice of Palestine. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas officially presented the appeal for UN membership last Friday. Since, Palestinians have enjoyed unprecedented attention and support for their case, as Israeli official rhetoric grows still more nervous. Even though Washington is set to veto the bid in the Security Council, it could still pass through the General Assembly with a simple majority. Israeli politicians have commented harshly on the matter. “If the Palestinians will indeed pass a one-sided resolution if not in the Security Council then the General Assembly, that would bring us to an altogether new situation and this would have repercussions, tough repercussions,” Israeli Prime Minister Lieberman said in an interview on Israel Radio. The United States has advised Israel not to sanction the Palestinian Authority (PA) should the bid pass, as this might have “a backlash effect.” If the PA is made insecure by sanctions, the Israeli government would lose their middleman for control of the West Bank. BM
