Ismail Haniyeh, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority said on Friday that “the UN is undermining the dignity of Palestinian people.” He confirmed that he wants Palestine to be a fully sovereign state, but will not “beg” for statehood. “We support the fundamental idea of a state, but liberation must come before a state and we will not beg for that. We have our reservations about going to the UN as we believe that it is controlled by the US, so it won’t be of any benefit to us”, he said after Friday prayers at the Al Zahoor mosque in Gaza. “We say to Abbas in the face of US arrogance, that he should return to the Palestinian people to hold a strategic and national dialogue, rather than running after nothing.” “We are patiently waiting for Erdogan’s speech (at the UN) and his expected focus on Palestinian rights and the Gaza blockade.” Haniyeh stated that the French initiative which calls for Palestine to be granted upgraded observer status at the UN circumvents Palestinians’ rights and is solely based on France’s interest in re-establishing negotiations. He refused to accept a French initiative with ulterior motives, when he says that the real motive should be to regain national unity and agree on a national and strategic schedule.