In the face of U.S. and Israeli objections, Palestinians are divided over the prospects of their upcoming request for statehood at the United Nations.<br/> Some people in Jerusalem are hopeful the city could become the capital of a new Palestinian state.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JERUSALEM RESIDENT AYMAN EL RAJABI:<br/> "We tell the President, Abu Mazen, we are behind you to establish a Palestinian state, God-willing soon we will announce the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."<br/> But following President Barack Obama's last-minute diplomatic drive to head off the Palestinian plan, many in the West Bank believe the U.S. is putting Israel above all other considerations.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RAMALLAH RESIDENT, UM MUSTAFA:<br/> "As a Palestinian people we would like to have a state, like all the other people. And it is our right to have a right to have self-determination. And everyone knows that Israel is America's spoiled child that can do whatever it wants."<br/> Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is determined to press ahead with the statehood bid.<br/> Residents of the Gaza Strip are clinging to the hope that their lot will some day improve.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZA CITY RESIDENT, KARAM MIJDAL:<br/> "We in the refugee camps are living under very difficult conditions, we are looking for any semblance of hope in the declaration of the state. God-willing there will be a state."<br/> Some in Hebron in the West Bank believe Palestinians are still too divided for statehood.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEBRON RESIDENT, MAMUN EL BAYED:<br/> "We don't have a national reconciliation yet, how can we have negotiations, how can they go to the United Nations when we have not yet organized ourselves."<br/> President Obama finds himself opposing Palestinian self-determination even as he praises the pro-democracy movements that have shaken the Arab world, and some believe he may be losing what influence he once had in the region.<br/> Nick Rowlands, Reuters.
