UNITED NATIONS, Nov 29: After being unsuccessful in their bid to head off voting on Thursday at the United Nations that was expected to upgrade the Palestinian Authority’s status, the US and Israel are assessing ways to limit the damage the vote will cause to their position on talks for a two-state solution to the longstanding problem.

The draft Palestinian resolution calls on the United Nations General Assembly to upgrade the authority to a ‘non-member observer state’.

It is virtually certain to pass, despite the opposition from the United States and a handful of other nations.

On Wednesday, two senior American diplomats — William J. Burns, the deputy secretary of state, and David Hale, the special envoy to the Middle East — met the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to register American concerns, the New York Times reported.

“No one should be under any illusion that this resolution is going to produce the results that the Palestinians claim to seek, namely to have their own state living in peace next to Israel,” Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman, said. “We thought it was important to make our case one more time.”

A major concern for the Americans is that the Palestinians may use their new status to try to join the International Criminal Court.

That prospect particularly worries the Israelis, who fear that the Palestinians might press for an investigation of their activities in the occupied territories.

Another worry is that the Palestinians might use the vote to seek membership to specialised agencies of the United Nations, a move that could have consequences for the financing of the international organisations as well as the Palestinian Authority itself.

Congress cut off financing to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in 2011 after it accepted Palestine as a member.

The United States is a major contributor to many of these agencies and plays an active role on their governing boards.

“To my knowledge, there’s no legislative impact that is triggered in the same way that there was with regard to Unesco,” Ms Nuland said on Monday.

“However, as you know, we also have money pending in the Congress for the Palestinian Authority, money that they need to support their regular endeavours and to support administration of the territories. So, obviously, if they take this step, it’s going to complicate the way the Congress looks at the Palestinians.”

Meanwhile, anticipating approval of the resolution, western diplomats have pushed for a Palestinian commitment not to seek membership in the International Criminal Court and United Nations specialised agencies after the vote.

Another step would be an affirmation by the Palestinians that the road to statehood was through the peace process. And a third could be a Palestinian commitment to open negotiations with the Israelis. Such assurances do not appear to have been provided.