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Abbas Welcomed in Ramallah, Palestinians Claim State

Abbas Welcomed in Ramallah, Palestinians Claim State Ramallah, Sep 26. -President Mahmoud Abbas was welcomed in this West Bank city on Sunday, after his historic speech at the United Nations to demand recognition of a new Palestine state, a stance also supported by Arab countries.

Dozens of thousands of residents in Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), rallied at the Yasser Arafat Square with flags and photos of Abbas, who arrived in the occupied West Bank city after speaking at the UN General Assembly.

Participants in the rally held up placards demanding that the Security Council accept the request made on Friday by their leader, so that Palestine becomes the 194th UN member state, and rejected a proposal from the so-called Middle East Quartet.

The Security Council, made up of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the UN, on Friday launched an ultimatum to Palestinians and Israelis to resume direct peace talks within a month and without any pre-conditions, to reach an accord by late 2012.

Before departing from New York, the PNA leader discarded to negotiate with Tel Aviv unconditionally, and stated that the quartet did not demand an end to the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a demand from the PNA.(Prensa Latina)