Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has asked the UN to grant Palestinians the status of "non-member observer state" by the end of the year.

President Abbas told the General Assembly that talks on such a status had begun and that his eventual aim was to establish Palestine as a full member state.

"We do not seek to delegitimise an existing state - that is Israel; but rather to assert the state that must be realised - that is Palestine", he added.