DHAKA: Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas will be allowed to sit in the UN General Assembly’s heads-of-state chair.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday, says The Jerusalem Post.

Abbas, who is scheduled to speak at the UN on Thursday at noon EST, will be the first Palestinian leader to use the chair, reserved for heads of state waiting to take the podium to address the General Assembly.

In the past, Palestinian leaders, who were considered representatives of a stateless people, had to stand while waiting to address the meeting.

The new diplomatic honour bestowed on Abbas comes after the Palestinians’ upgrade to an ‘observer state’ at the UN last November.

BDST: 2220 HRS, SEPT 26, 2013
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