“The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) holds contacts with Washington to resume the Middle East peace process and at the same time it seeks the United Nations' recognition of an independent Palestinian statehood, a senior Palestinian official said on Sunday,” Chine Daily informs Nov. 16.

The source quotes Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat as saying, “We are now seeking to lobby a big political base to get a resolution recognizing the state of Palestine to be established on the Palestinian territories that Israel has captured during the 1967 Middle East war with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Calls for recognition of the Palestinian statehood grew as the PNA-Israel peace talks came to a standstill. Presently, over hundred countries have recognized “Palestine”, however the U.S., France and Britain — all UN Security Council permanent members — are not among them.