From BBc site yesterday, why Britain France and Germany will not support application.

The UN diplomat said Britain, France and Colombia stated their positions in a private meeting of the Security Council committee dealing with the Palestinian application.

The diplomat said Germany also declared it could not support the Palestinian bid, without clarifying whether it would abstain or vote against.


In real terms this does not matter, because the Americans have already made it clear they would veto the Palestinian request.

But in political and moral terms it does: the Palestinians were hoping to show they could isolate the Americans by getting majority support on the Security Council. That looks unlikely now.

A source in Britain's Foreign Office says William Hague will explain the decision to parliament on Wednesday.

Britain and France support Palestinian statehood in principle.

But they have expressed concern that a Palestinian bid to become a UN member state right now could harm chances of reviving the peace process.

There is also general concern here that a Palestinian confrontation with the Americans on this issue could ignite violence in the Middle East.