“Nothing will deter us from going to the UN”, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a meeting with MK Mohammad Barake, chairman of Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel), on Tuesday November 20, 2012 in Ramallah. Abbas is preparing to make an appeal to the United Nations on November 29 to grant non-member status to the Palestinian State.

MK Barake during a demonstration against settlements in the occupied West Bank; the placard held aloft above his head reads: “The wall and the occupation are destined to disappear.” (Photo: Hadash)

President Abbas accused Israel of launching an deadly assault on the Gaza Strip to undermine his efforts to secure a diplomatic upgrade at the United Nations. “Everything that is happening is in order to block our endeavors to reach the United Nations,” Abbas told MK Barake in Ramallah. He pledged to continue with his plan for a vote in the UN General Assembly on Palestine joining as a non-member state. The upgrade would enhance Palestinians’ legal rights at a time when peace negotiations with Israel have hit a wall over Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building in territory where the Palestinians want their state.