BEIRUT: Palestinian Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah launched a campaign Wednesday to lobby for the recognition of Palestine as a United Nations member state, in the first official conference to take place at the embassy in Beirut since it was inaugurated last month by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The launch of the campaign, entitled “the flying chair – Palestine is deserving,” was attended by officials from most Lebanese political parties.

The “flying chair” is a chair, colored in the United Nations distinctive blue, that is marked “Palestine” and made by Palestinian artisans from olive trees growing near the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

A Palestinian youth delegation was slated to transport the item from Ramallah but was delayed because of “visa complications” and couldn’t attend Wednesday morning’s conference, organizers said.

The delegation was expected to arrive Wednesday evening to attend an informal ceremony Thursday at the Rashidieh refugee camp in the south.

After Lebanon, the symbolic chair will travel to Doha, Moscow and Brussels, before heading to U.N. headquarters in New York, where the delegation will present the outcome of their tour.

“We insisted [that this] campaign start in Lebanon because Lebanon has been standing on the side of the Palestinian case in the United Nations since 1974,” Abdullah said.

“With Lebanon taking over the presidency of the United Nations’ Security Council, President Mahmoud Abbas will present a demand requesting Palestine become a member,” he added, noting Lebanon had expressed its support for the Palestinian demand.

The flying-chair delegation met with Abbas Tuesday, after visiting Yasser Arafat’s grave in Ramallah the day before.

Abdullah said the campaign aimed at proving that the Palestinian people had the right to have a state, as “all other peoples do.”

He thanked all the Lebanese officials for attending the ceremony and said that the “Palestinian people are committed to Lebanon and its people,” and described the meeting as a “tribute to the relationship between Lebanon and Palestine.”

Abdullah also denied there was any disagreement between different Palestinian entities on the legitimacy of the flying chair tour.

Abdullah insisted on “the right of the Palestinian people to go to the United Nations and defend their rights against the Israeli violations,” adding that the Palestine Liberation Organization will “remain strong as it is leading the Palestinian struggle.”

“Whatever the outcome of our campaign [at the U.N.] is,” he added, “we will continue to stand behind the Palestinian people, and behind President Mahmoud Abbas.”