Sarkozy Urges U.N. to Admit Palestine as Non-Member State

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Wednesday on the United Nations to admit Palestine as a non-member state, upgrading its status as simple observer but opposing a Palestinian bid for full membership.

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Sarkozy also called for "one year to reach a definitive agreement" between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the usual U.S.-led peace process should not bypass European, Arab or other countries.

Aiming to avoid a showdown, Sarkozy sought a middle road between the Palestinian plan to ask the U.N. Security Council to admit Palestine as a full state and the U.S. determination to block the effort with a veto, which he warned would be dangerous.

"Each of us knows that Palestine cannot immediately obtain full and complete recognition of the status of United Nations member state. The first reason for this is the lack of trust between the main parties," Sarkozy said.

"But who could doubt that a veto at the Security Council risks engendering a cycle of violence in the Middle East?" the French leader said.

"Must we therefore exclude an intermediate stage? Why not envisage offering Palestine the status of United Nations observer state? This would be an important step forward," Sarkozy said.

"Most important, it would mean emerging from a state of immobility that favors only the extremists. We would be restoring hope by marking progress towards the final status."

Under U.N. rules, any bid for full membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council and then a two-thirds majority in the 193-member General Assembly.

Non-member status would require only a straight majority in the General Assembly where no veto is possible.

It would also give the Palestinians access to international organizations like the World Health Organization and perhaps the International Criminal Court.

However, Sarkozy appeared to urge the Palestinians not to pursue Israel in the court when he said "they could commit to avoid using this new status to undertake actions incompatible with the continuance of negotiations."

Sarkozy also called for greater involvement of the international community in the peace process, suggesting the process led by the United States, the top ally of Israel, was leading nowhere.

He appeared to suggest that the role of the Diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East -- composed of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- was not enough to find a peaceful settlement.

"Let us stop believing that a single country or a small group of countries can resolve so complex a problem. Too many crucial players have been sidelined for our efforts to succeed," he said.

"After so many failures, who still believes that the peace process can succeed without Europe?" he posed.

"Who still believes that it can succeed without the involvement of all the permanent members of the Security Council?" he asked, referring to the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

"Who still believes that it can succeed without the involvement of the Arab states that have already chosen peace?" he continued.

"Who does not see that a collective approach is now indispensable to create trust and offer real guarantees to each of the parties?"

The French leader also called for a timeline to restart negotiations, which stalled weeks after they were relaunched by President Barack Obama's administration in September last year.

"One month to resume discussion, six months to find an agreement on borders and security; and one year to reach a definitive agreement," he said.

Like the Obama administration, he said negotiations should lead to two states, including a Palestinian nation based on the boundaries that existed before the 1967 war but with agreed land swaps to account for Jewish settlements.