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Arab foreign ministers back a proposed Palestinian bid for statehood before the United Nations

Associated Press
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves to photographers as he arrives to attend an Arab foreign minister meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. Abbas threatened to dissolve a new unity government if the Hamas militant group does not yield power in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) (The Associated Press)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center, arrives with the Arab League's Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, left, and Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki to attend an Arab foreign minister meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. Abbas threatened to dissolve a new unity government if the Hamas militant group does not yield power in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) (The Associated Press)

In this photo provided by Egypt's state news agency MENA, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, right, meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center and Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. The Palestinian president threatened to dissolve a new unity government if the Hamas militant group does not give up power in the Gaza Strip. Abbas told reporters in Cairo late Saturday that he cannot accept the current situation in Gaza. He said if Hamas will not accept one central authority, "we will not accept partnership with it."(AP Photo/ MENA) (The Associated Press)

Arab foreign ministers say they will back Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to lobby the United Nations to set a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of lands captured in the 1967 war and make way for an independent Palestinian state.

The Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, Jamal al-Shobaki, said Monday that the Arab League resolution issued a day earlier calls for the head of the Arab League to push the idea in the U.N. Security Council and other regional and international groups. Al-Shobaki said the foreign ministers are consulting over the draft resolution to be put to the council.

Abbas floated the idea last month as a way to refocus international attention on Palestinians demands for a state after failed efforts to reach a negotiated peace deal with Israel.