RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinians are seeking ways to break the deadlock over their bid to secure UN state membership that is expected to emerge when the Security Council meets later on Friday.
The Security Council's membership committee is due to meet in New York to decide on the next step, with its 15 members still divided over whether or not to accept the state of Palestine as a full member.
Diplomats say only six council members have firmly committed to supporting the move out of the nine the Palestinians need -- although the initiative has been expected to fail from the outset, given Washington's determination to veto the request.
But the committee was not expected to vote on Friday.
"The Palestinian leadership and the Arabs are considering various options, including that of French President Nicolas Sarkozy which involves asking the General Assembly to upgrade Palestine to a (UN) non-member state," Nimr Hammad, political adviser to president Mahmud Abbas, told AFP.
On September 21, Sarkozy proposed that the UN General Assembly upgrade the Palestinians' status from observer entity to that of a non-member state as a compromise solution aimed at heading off a confrontation over their seeking full state membership.
Upgrading their status would only require a simple majority in the General Assembly and is certain to pass easily.
Such a move would allow the the Palestinians to join many UN organisations or international treaties, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians.
But a decision on what direction to take will only be reached when the Palestinian leadership meets after Friday's UN meeting, Hammad said, indicating they would also discuss the issue with the Arab League.
"There are lots of options, starting with a return to the Security Council when the non-permanent members change," he said, referring to an upcoming rotation which will see five of the 10 non-permanent council members replaced in January.
"We could also turn to the General Assembly, or to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for an advisory opinion," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki told Voice of Palestine radio.
For the time being, Palestinian officials are refusing to admit defeat in their quest for full state membership via the Security Council.
Even though Washington has vowed to veto any Security Council vote on membership, the Palestinians have been seeking to gain a majority of nine, which would put the US in a deeply embarrassing position and grant Abbas a valuable moral victory.
So far, the Palestinians have only received the public support of six countries: Brazil, China, India, Lebanon, Russia and South Africa, with six others -- Britain, Colombia, France, Germany, Portugal and United States -- saying they would abstain or oppose the resolution.
"We have applied for full UN membership for the State of Palestine through the Security Council and we will continue until we get that," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.
At Friday's meeting, the committee will debate a report on the issue which says its members were "unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council."
The draft report, a copy of which was seen by AFP on Tuesday, avoids saying which countries supported or opposed the bid and it was not clear whether there would be any amendments to it before Friday's meeting.
After the report is presented, the Palestinians will "begin consultations with Arab and geopolitical groups, including the Non-Aligned Movement and the African Group," Erakat said.
Israel and the United States are firmly opposed to the Palestinian membership bid which was formally presented by Abbas on September 23, saying that a state can only arise out of a negotiated peace settlement.
But the likelihood of a resumption of negotiations looks remote, with direct peace talks on hold for more than a year and the two sides refusing to agree terms on which to re-engage, despite repeated international efforts to get them back to the table.