The Palestinians will ask the Security Council next week to accept them as a full member of the United Nations, the Palestinian foreign minister said Thursday, a move that would defy Washington's threat to veto the statehood bid. 
 
 Tailor Abu Khatab sews Palestinian flags as part of the campaign promoting the Palestinians' bid for statehood, at his workshop in the West Bank city of Nablus,Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011.(AP Photo/Nasser... (Associated Press) 
 
 Tailor Abu Khatab sews Palestinian flags as part of the campaign promoting the Palestinians' bid for statehood, at his workshop in the West Bank city of Nablus, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Nasser... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cups designed as part of the campaign promoting the Palestinians' bid for statehood are displayed in a souvenirs shop in Gaza City, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set... (Associated Press) 
 
 The remarks by Riad Malki came just ahead of the arrival in the West Bank of a senior U.S. diplomatic team that was in the region in a last-ditch effort to persuade the Palestinians to drop the U.N. bid. Although Malki did not close the door on compromise, his comments signaled the chances of breakthrough were slim. 
 
 With a diplomatic showdown looming, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday that he would travel to the U.N. next week to lead the opposition to the Palestinian initiative. 
 
 The emerging scenario would constitute a blow to U.S. diplomacy by forcing Washington to veto a proposal whose outcome _ a Palestinian state _ in principle is supported by most of the world, including the White House and many in Israel as well. 
 
 However, both the U.S. and Israel say a Palestinian state can be established only through negotiations. 
 
 It could also drag out the maneuver at the United Nations for months. 
 
 The process would have to play out in the Security Council before the Palestinians turn to the General Assembly, where they are likely to find the needed majority for a lesser form of recognition as a "nonmember observer state." 
 
 Malki said the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, will personally submit the Palestinian request for membership to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after addressing the General Assembly on the afternoon of Sept. 23. In the meantime, he said the Palestinians would listen to suggested alternatives. 
 
 "We will see if anyone carries with him or her any credible offer that will allow us to look into it seriously and to be discussed in the Palestinian leadership. Otherwise, on the 23rd at 12:30, the president will submit the application," Malki told foreign journalists in Ramallah. 
 
 The Palestinians say they are turning to the U.N. in frustration after years of failed peace talks. While a U.N. vote will not change the situation on the ground, the Palestinians believe it will improve their position if peace talks resume. 
 
 "We are going to the United Nations because we want really to strengthen the chances for the resumption of negotiations," Malki said. 
 
 The U.S. envoys, David Hale and Dennis Ross, are the latest in a string of senior diplomats who are trying to get the Palestinians to cancel their U.N. bid and instead resume negotiations with Israel. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and international Mideast envoy Tony Blair have also held talks with the Palestinians in recent days. 
 
 A meeting with Blair late Wednesday, Malki said, "did not produce anything new." 
 
 The last round of Israel-Palestinian talks broke down a year ago, just weeks after their launch, in a dispute over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim both areas, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war for their future state. 
 
 The Palestinians say they will not return to the table unless Israel freezes settlement construction and accepts its 1967 boundaries as the basis for a final agreement. Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories claimed by the Palestinians, in the 1967 Mideast war. 
 
 Malki would not give specifics on what it would take to get the Palestinians to abandon their U.N. bid, saying only it would require a "firm base with clear terms of reference, a clear timetable and with a clear end game." 
 
 U.S. officials in Washington say the proposed formula would endorse parameters laid out in a speech by President Barack Obama last May, when he said the 1967 lines should be the basis of an agreement. The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot said other details would include a three-month settlement moratorium and six-month timetable for talks. 
 
 The U.S. has already said it will use its veto in the Security Council, the powerful 15-member body that must approve U.N. membership. 
 
 There had been some expectation that the Palestinians would go straight to the General Assembly. Approval of a Palestinian resolution is guaranteed in the 193-nation body, which is dominated by developing countries sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. 
 
 But Malki said Thursday the Palestinians remain focused on the Security Council, setting the stage for a direct confrontation with the Americans. 
 
 Netanyahu, meanwhile, announced he would lead his government's delegation to the annual gathering in New York. Acknowledging the General Assembly is not "particularly sympathetic to Israel," he said it was important to go and "lay things out the way they are." 
 
 Netanyahu said he would stress his country's security needs, particularly in light of the dramatic changes sweeping through the Arab world. 
 
 "I will tell the truth, the simple truth, and the truth is Israel wants peace," Netanyahu said. "We know that this peace is conditioned on recognition and security, and I think these needs are only sharpened against the background of the events we see around us." ||||| “Of course frustration can turn to chaos,” said Najeh Abd al-Majid, another resident of the camp, a frequent point of clashes between Palestinian youths and the Israeli military. 
 
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 When the annual United Nations gathering begins on Monday, the Palestinian leadership could take its statehood bid to the Security Council, where the United States has vowed to use its veto, or it could opt for a vote in the General Assembly, a more modest route that would upgrade the Palestinian representation to that of a nonmember observer state, comparable to the Holy See. 
 
 Israel and the United States have tried to stop the showdown altogether, warning of dire consequences and insisting that the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is through direct negotiations. Israel has not spelled out the possible fallout of a vote, but some on the right have called for the suspension of the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, the cancellation of agreements and the annexation of territory containing Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank. There has been talk in Washington of cutting financing as well. 
 
 Yet the Palestinian public’s mood is strongly in favor of the United Nations bid, whatever the risks. 
 
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 “We have to do it,” said Selwa Yassin, 51, from the village of Ein Yabrud in the Ramallah district. 
 
 “The consequences,” Ms. Yassin said, “cannot be worse than losing all of Palestine.” 
 
 For now, the Palestinian leadership is trying to foster a festive atmosphere. 
 
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 In Ramallah on Tuesday, volunteers gave store owners and motorists flags emblazoned with the campaign logo “U.N. Palestine State No. 194,” a reference to the goal of becoming the 194th member of the United Nations. 
 
 Those acquainted with the details say that the aspiration is to become a full-member state. “We do not want an honorary position,” said Qusai Khatib, 40, a barber and a teacher in Kalandia. “This would have no taste.” 
 
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 For Palestinians seeking independence, even virtual statehood would represent a new phase in a long struggle. But in a reflection of the Palestinian leadership’s conflicted attitude toward its own initiative, Mr. Abbas appears to want to shake things up abroad while avoiding any major turmoil at home. 
 
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 His instructions are for peaceful rallies to take place in the center of Palestinian cities, far from any friction points with the Israelis. Organizers have called on the Palestinian public to rally twice, on Sept. 21, the opening of the general debate in the United Nations General Assembly, and on Sept. 23, when Mr. Abbas is scheduled to address the forum. 
 
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 “From our side, no confrontations, no chaos,” Mr. Abbas told reporters in Ramallah last week. “Our instructions were very strict: Don’t go to the roadblocks, don’t make any friction with the Israelis, don’t run to the Israelis. If they come to the cities, don’t react.” 
 
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 The Palestinian leadership has recruited Abdallah Abu Rahma, an advocate of nonviolence and a leader of the popular resistance movement from Bilin, a West Bank village, as the coordinator of the “Palestine 194” campaign. 
 
 “We are trying to be like the Arab Spring,” Mr. Abu Rahma said, “to bring large numbers of Palestinians into the squares.” 
 
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 The eagerness to avoid confrontation stems from the leadership’s desire to preserve its interests, according to Palestinian experts. Among other things, the Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, wants to maintain security cooperation with Israel and to prevent its rival, Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza, from exploiting any tumult. It also wants to continue with state-building efforts and to avoid further damage to the authority’s already troubled financial situation. 
 
 “This is the outcome of a bargaining process within the Palestinian leadership,” said Khalil Shikaki, a prominent Palestinian political analyst in Ramallah. “It is about how to balance between those who want to do something dramatic and those who want to maintain the status quo, however despicable the situation may be.” 
 
 Mr. Shikaki added that Mr. Abbas, who is cautious by nature, also might not want to jeopardize the chance of resuming negotiations with the Israelis. 
 
 Palestinians say they fear provocations by Israeli settlers. Extremists have already stepped up their activities, vandalizing two mosques in West Bank villages this month. 
 
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 The Israeli military says that it will tolerate Palestinian demonstrations within the confines of the cities and will generally act with restraint. 
 
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 Brig. Gen. Michael Edelstein, the chief officer commanding the paratroopers and infantry responsible for preserving order this month, told reporters that the army had equipped itself with a broader range of nonlethal weaponry. It has acquired more than 20 water-cannon trucks that can spray water or a foul-smelling liquid known locally as skunk; huge loudspeakers that can also emit intolerable noise to scatter protesters; and tear-gas launchers fitted with sights to allow soldiers to aim better when firing the gas canisters. 
 
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 Palestinians insist that the new emphasis is on peaceful resistance after two intifadas that they say achieved little. But there are concerns that encouraging people to demonstrate in the streets could unleash unpredictable forces. 
 
 “People are not interested in clashes,” said Yusef Ehab, 18, who works in his family’s toy shop in downtown Ramallah. That would serve the Israelis’ interest, he said, because “Israel is interested in showing how the Palestinians are violent.” 
 
 “Peacefully, peacefully,” he said, raising his hands in a sign of surrender.
– Barring some kind of last-minute diplomatic magic trick, Mahmoud Abbas will ask the UN Security Council for membership next week, the Palestinian foreign minister said today—even as US diplomats traveled to the West Bank for last-ditch negotiating efforts. “We will see if anyone carries … any credible offer,” he said, according to the AP. “Otherwise, on the 23rd the president will submit the application.” Benjamin Netanyahu today announced that he’d lead Israel’s UN delegation to oppose the move. The gambit puts the US in the uncomfortable position of vetoing one of its stated policy objectives. Most other countries support Palestinian statehood, so Abbas is at least likely to win “non-member observer state” status from the General Assembly. None of this will change realities on the ground, but it’s energized Palestinians, the New York Times reports, even if many fear Israeli reprisals. “We have to do it,” one said. “The consequences cannot be worse than losing all of Palestine.”