PLO calls for recognition of Palestinian state

Quest of the Palestine Liberation Organization to win full membership of the Palestinian state in the United Nations constitutes the basic path for the Middle East peace process, said a senior Palestinian official on Monday. States that have not recognize the State of Palestine should take such a move as soon as possible, said Dr. Saeb Oreikat, the chief Palestinian authority negotiator and member of the PLO Executive Committee. Oreikat, who was speaking during a meeting with Robert Serry, the representative of the UN Secretary General, and the British Consul-General to the occupied territories, Sir Vincent Fean, said states of the world should not hesitate to support the Palestinians' bids to win full membership of the State of Palestine at the UN. Resorting to the UN in September does not constitute a full strategy for the Palestinians, for such a general plan envisages ending the Israeli occupation and re-putting Palestine on the map of the world, Oreikat added. Explaining further, the ranking official indicated that the PLO was seeking to attain membership at the UN, and not making a declaration of the State of Palestine, for a such proclamation was made in 1988, during a meeting of the National Council.