Abbas Lays Groundwork for Unilateral Declaration of PA State

Arab media is reporting that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told his aides to ask the United Nations Security Council to recognize the PA as a new Arab country to be called “Palestine.” According to a report published Thursday in the London-based Arabic-language daily A-Sharq al-Awsat, the PA is prepared to ask the U.N. to recognize it as an independent state.
Abbas, who met Wednesday with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, said there was no flexibility on the issue of forming a PA state along the 1949 armistice line, referred to by some as the “1967 borders.” He also said that any exchange of land would require similar quantity and quality.
Abbas has spent the past year flying around the world on a diplomatic mission to build support for a unilateral declaration of statehood.
The efforts have paid off in South America, possibly with the assistance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who likewise tightened ties there this year. As a result, several nations have announced their willingness to recognize the PA as a country.
Joel 3: 1,2
¹ "For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,  I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.