Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 21 / Trend A. Isgandarov /
Seven countries in the Security Council are committed to supporting Palestine's bid for membership in the UN, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Malki said Tuesday, Ma'an reported.
Malki told Voice of Palestine radio that Gabon, a non-permanent member, resolved to support the decision.
Malki added that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation pledged to talk to Turkey, Serbia, Nigeria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to guarantee the nine votes needed to recommend Palestine's membership.
Security Council resolutions need nine votes from the 15-nation body to pass, but the United States has already said it will veto the measure, which would prevent its passage.
Malki told reporters in New York he was confident the Palestinians would muster nine votes.
"We're working towards it (securing nine votes) and I think we'll manage it," he said, after meeting his Venezuelan counterpart.
The foreign minister did not consider the US position as unchangeable.
"We hope the United States will revise its position and be on the side of the majority of nations or countries who want to support the Palestinian right to have self determination and independence."
the Palestinians have launched a campaign to join the UN as a full member state with international recognition based on their 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as a capital.
The United States and Israel say a Palestinian state should emerge from peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel, which would be impossible if the Palestinians declare a state on their own. Washington has pledged to veto such a Palestinian request at the U.N. Security Council.