Palestine to protest Interpol membership delay

The government will spark the issue at the Interpol meeting, after filing the application more than a year ago, the foreign ministry said.

"Palestine applied for membership of Interpol more than a year ago, but the executive committee of Interpol rejected the Palestinian request for a vote and referred it to a committee of experts for examination," foreign ministry official Ammar Hijazi told AFP.

He added that "executive measures" had prevented the issue being on the agenda for Interpol's next annual meeting, to be held on the Indonesian island of Bali from November 7-10, which he said, would be attended by Palestinian officials that are expected to register their protest.

"There is no plan to vote on the Palestinian request at the next meeting, but the diplomatic battle ahead is to expose what the Executive Committee did to postpone a decision," he said, adding that the Palestinian Authority was seeking to enlist support for its bid.

Interpol confirmed it had received "several" requests from member countries to discuss Palestine's membership at the annual conference, "however, under Interpol's rules it is the Executive Committee which sets the agenda," a statement said.

The committee will meet on Saturday to finalise the agenda, it added.

The Lyon-based Interpol currently has 190 member countries, enabling police across the globe to share information.

The State of Palestine gained observer status at the United Nations in 2012 and since then has joined 54 international organisations and agreements,among them are the International Criminal Court and the United Nations heritage body UNESCO.

Israel has staunchly opposed the moves and has expressed its concern by delaying payments of taxes to the Palestinians after their 2015 ICC application.

The Israeli foreign ministry declined formal comment, but an official confirmed it was opposing the bid. "We think this is not the right move," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.