By Falastin Al-Remawi

RAMALLAH, August 13, 2011 (WAFA) – Palestinian Americans are planning to participate in rallies throughout the United State on September 20 in support of the Palestinian bid to seek United Nations recognition and full membership of a Palestinian state, Saturday said John Dabeet, president of Americans and Palestinians for Peace (AMPAL).

He told WAFA that his organization is coordinating with similar groups in the United States to hold a massive rally at the UN headquarters in New York in support of the Palestinian move.

Dabeet, who is also is an economics and business professor at Muscatine Community College in Iowa, said “we have made arrangements to hold rallies in coordination with several US non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in different states.”

He said that he noticed growing American interest and support for Palestinians, in spite of Israel’s lobbying and influence in the US.

“I met with some officials at the foreign ministry in Ramallah to coordinate moves to support the Palestinian step in seeking UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September,” he said.

AMPAL, which is the only organization that works merely for the support of the Palestinian cause in the US, has recently signed a twinning agreement between Muscatine, a town in Iowa, and Ramallah.

“We will keep working to support the Palestinian cause,” he said.

F.R./M.A.