Abbas presses Palestinian UN bid despite warnings

President Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations' top official on Monday he would seek full UN membership for a Palestinian state, a move the United States and Israel warn could lead to disaster and shatter chances for resuming peace negotiations.

Abbas told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon he would press ahead with plans to ask on Friday for a Security Council vote on Palestinian membership. Washington has threatened to veto any such move.

Ban told Abbas he would perform his duties for any application submitted, and called for the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume talks "within a legitimate and balanced framework," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

The Palestinian crisis has overshadowed this week's meeting of the UN General Assembly and sparked hectic last-minute talks aimed at averting a confrontation which carries risks for the Palestinians, Israel and the United States.

Abbas, speaking to reporters on his plane en route to New York, acknowledged it could have repercussions for his Palestinian Authority, the fragile government-in-waiting which depends on international financial aid for its survival in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"We decided to take this step and all hell has broken out against us," he said, adding that he would not be swayed.

"From now until I give the speech, we have only one choice: going to the Security Council. Afterwards, we will sit and decide," he said.

The administration of US President Barack Obama, who had sought to use the "Arab Spring" uprisings to recast US ties with the Arab world, has vowed to veto a statehood resolution. It says only a resumption of a two-decade-old negotiation process can bring lasting peace between the two sides.

Some US lawmakers say they will try to cut the some $500 million in US aid per year to the Palestinians if they refuse to back down.

The Palestinian Authority's central bank chief, Jihad al-Wazir, warned that this could spell the end of the Palestinians' current efforts at self-government.

"Really, the risk of PA collapse is very real under the financial strain," he told reporters.