Abbas will address the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 27, and then file the application for observer state recognition with the world body, said Malki, according to Reuters.

“The application will be deposited and then we will be in touch with the members of the General Assembly, consulting with them on the proper timing for applying,” the minister added.

The Palestinians are currently a UN observer “entity” with no voting rights. Malki told reporters that Mahmoud Abbas will ask for non-member observer status at the U.N General Assembly in his speech in late September, an upgrade they hope will firmly establish the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as Palestinian territories.

Separately, Ron Prosor,Israel’s UN envoy, told local radio stations that Palestinian Authority will likely receive non-member observer status, but says: ‘Nothing will change on the ground’.

The Palestinian bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations would find majority support but would not bring them closer to statehood and peace with Israel, he added.

A simple majority vote in the 193-member General Assembly would be enough to grant Palestinians non-member observer status, bypassing the Security Council  where the United States, Israel’s ally, has previously threatened to veto the bid.

The United States and Israel argue that a Palestinian state can only be established in negotiations with Israel. However, Israeli-Palestinian have been stalled since 2008. A Palestinian bid last year for full U.N. membership lost ground in the U.N. Security Council because of lack of support.

Malki’s remarks came after a meeting by the Arab League follow-up committee in Doha on Sunday, at which representatives expressed support for the bid but did not set a date for it, according to Maan News.

The minister said officials would communicate with member countries of the General Assembly and report back to the committee at its next meeting in Cairo on Sept. 5, when the timing of the appeal will be decided, according to Maan news.

“The decision is that the Palestinian leadership will go to the general assembly despite the consequences,” he said.

Last year, Abbas formally presented a Palestinian request for full state membership at the UN in a move which infuriated Israel and the United States.

The request was stalled at the Security Council, whose 15 members were divided over the move, and where the United States had threatened to use its veto to block the bid.

Direct peace talks have been frozen since 2010, as Illegal settlements have been the major obstacle to all negotiations as Israel refused Palestinians’ demands to stop construction of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem despite settlements being illegal under the fourth Geneva convention and being in defiance of UN resolutions.

The United States has threatened to withold funding from any UN body that recognizes the PA as a full member state.The US is demanding that the Palestinian Authority resumes talks without pre-conditions.

Washington underwrites 23% of the United Nation’s annual budget, and 27% of the world body’s peace-keeping operations, according to AFP.