"Palestinians expect support from ex-Yugoslav countries"

BELGRADE -- The Palestinian observer to the UN expects all former Yugoslav countries, "including Serbia", to support "the will of the Palestinians to become independent".

The NAM meeting in Belgrade (Beta)

Riyad Mansour was speaking in Belgrade on Tuesday, while taking part in the the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the Serbian capital city.

Mansour said that "Palestine is satisfied with the results of the meeting, and the debate at which nearly all NAM members expressed support to the people of Palestine".

"This is a historic moment for Palestine," Mansour said, adding that, at the forthcoming UN General Assembly, "Palestine will try to obtain a two-thirds majority for the request for independence and UN membership".

Mansour said that establishment of institutions in the Palestinian territories for governing an independent state was "completed", and that they now expected the international community and the UN General Assembly to "legalize reality".

"We have several options, and we hope that, with the help of the NAM and others, including Serbia, we will be able to do something positive for Palestine and end the occupation," he said.

Mansour asserted that the issue of Palestine was "typical foreign occupation which cannot be compared to the issue of Kosovo", adding that, according to the international law and the UN, the occupation can only be temporary, and that it is time for it to end by a mutually workable solution.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared the independence of the territories on November 15, 1988, while the Palestinian Authority (PA) was established in 1994, as a result of the Oslo Accords. Over 100 countries have diplomatic relations with the PA.