So far, eight countries of the 15-member council have decided to support the Palestinian bid for a membership in the world body, Riyad al-Maliki told Voice of Palestine Radio.

As the US presses Columbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina not to vote for the Palestinian request, the Palestinian leadership is trying hard to persuade one of those nations to support the request.

The US administration has been putting political, economic and even military pressure on the Security Council's non-permanent members to prevent them from supporting the Palestinian move, said al-Maliki.

If the Palestinians could not garner nine votes, their application will not be accepted and so Washington will not have to embarrass itself by using the veto to block the Palestinian application.

The US wants the recognition of the Palestinian state come through peace talks with Israel. The negotiations broke down last year after the Palestinians walk out in protest of an Israeli decision to resume construction in West Bank settlements.

Xinhua