The compromise proposal by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to admit Palestine to the United Nations as a non-member observer state "is positive, but we have to study it first," dpa quoted a Palestinian official as saying Thursday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy made the proposal in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. In terms of the proposal, Palestinians seeking statehood would then be expected to resume peace talks with Israel within a month, with the aim of reaching a definitive agreement in one year. "Let's have one month to resume discussions, six months to find an agreement on borders and security and one year to reach a definite agreement," Sarkozy said. The application for full UN membership would go ahead as planned on Friday, Palestinian delegation member Yasser Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine Radio on Thursday, speaking from New York. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Friday. The Palestinian Authority may accept a short delay for procedural reasons before the Security Council votes on the statehood bid, but not a lengthy delay for political reasons, he said. Palestinian officials have said that if a vote for full membership is delayed, they may ask the General Assembly that Palestinian status be upgraded from that of the current non-state observer to non-member state. Only application for full membership requires the recommendation of the Security Council, where the United States has vowed to veto the request, while application for non-membership does not. Abed Rabbo said he was not aware of any new initiative by the quartet of Middle East peace sponsors - the US, UN, European Union and Russia.
