RAMALLAH, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority (PA) decided that it will not apply next week for a full membership of the state of Palestine in the United Nations (UN), a senior diplomat said on Wednesday.
Senior Palestinian officials had earlier stated that the PA would apply to the UN for a full membership in coincident with the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to New York on Jan. 15 to chair the Group of 77 (G77) and China.
The G77 at the UN is a coalition of more than 130 developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity.
Reyad Mansour, the permanent representative of Palestine in the UN, told Voice of Palestine Radio that "the current circumstances don't fit to ask for a full membership of the state of Palestine due to the United States' hostile and poisoned atmosphere."
Mansour accused the U.S. administration of exerting all possible efforts to convince the UN states members to refrain from voting in favor of the full membership bid, adding that the Palestinian side "is bearing in consideration all these conditions."
Meanwhile, Israel Radio had earlier reported that Israel confronted the Palestinian diplomatic move to ask for a full membership in the UN, adding that "the Palestinian mission pulled out the request for a full membership."
In response to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision of considering Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in Dec. 2017, the Palestinians announced that they will ask for a full membership of the state of Palestine in the UN.
Ties between the PA and the U.S. had been severed since Trump's declaration, where the PA had asked for moving the U.S. sponsorship of the Middle East peace process to an international group that sponsors it.
Peace negotiations, sponsored by the U.S., had been installed since 2014 after it went on for nine months without making any tangible progress due to deep differences between the two sides on settlement activities, border and security.
