SOFIA, November 29, 2012 (WAFA) – Bulgaria Thursday announced that it will abstain from voting at the United Nations General Assembly on the Palestinian bid to upgrade the Palestinian status from observer entity to a non-member-state, said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov.

He said during a meeting with the Arab Ambassadors in Bulgaria that the decision to abstain doesn’t mean that Bulgaria doesn’t recognize Palestine or doesn’t support it, but it believes that a Palestinian state will only be established after direct negotiations with Israel.

Palestinian Ambassador to Bulgaria Ahmad Madbuh called on the Bulgarian government to reconsider its position and affirmed that addressing the UN came after reaching the conclusion that Israel is not interested in serious negotiations to end the occupation of 1967 land.

He said that voting in favor of the bid is the last resort to save the two-state solution according to the international resolutions.

M.H./F.R.