BICOM

Nabil Amr, a member of the PLO Central Council and a former Palestinian Authority minister, said yesterday that the PA should delay its bid for statehood at the UN planned for September. Amr said the PA is taking a risk by going to the UN without the support of major players in the international community.

Amr’s comments mark the first time a senior PLO official has raised concern over the PA’s bid for statehood, although previous reports indicate that several Palestinian officials have raised their concerns privately. Amr called on the PA to delay the bid by a year and said that he feared the current initiative would damage relations with the US and EU countries. “I personally will advise the leadership to delay the UN bid by another year so that we would be able to make better preparations than what has been done until now,” Amr said.