Palestinian flag to be raised at United Nations

The Palestinian flag is to be raised for the first time at the United Nations later in what the Palestinian leader says will be "a most emotional and proud day".

Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly passed a motion to raise the Palestinian and Vatican flags.

Israel criticised the move and they, the United States and six other countries voted against it.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders will speak before the UN this week.

"The sense of pride among the Palestinian people was overwhelming the day the world voted in favour of this landmark initiative," Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wrote for the Huffington Post on Tuesday.

"I am certain that the day our flag rises among the flags of the community of nations will also be a most emotional and proud day."

He also called for a multilateral solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding: "The UN must give my people more than hope."

The motion was passed by 119 votes, but 45 countries abstained from the vote.

At the time, Israel's UN representative Ron Prosor said the move was a "blatant attempt to hijack the UN", insisting that the only way Palestinians could achieve statehood was through direct negotiations.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionThere have been clashes between Palestinians and Israelis in East Jerusalem in recent weeks

In 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of a "non-member observer state" allowing them to take part in assembly debates.

It followed a failed bid to join the international body as a full member state in 2011 because of a lack of support in the UN Security Council.

Mr Abbas will address the General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking a day later.

He is expected to call on Palestinians to end "incitement to violence".

In recent weeks, there have been clashes at the al-Aqsa mosque complex in East Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa is one of Islam's holiest sites and is in the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif site also revered by Jews.

Early on Wednesday, Israel carried out a series of air strikes on Gaza, hours after the Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket from the enclave.