BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat on Saturday called on the European Union to vote in favor of the Palestinian bid for non-member status at the United Nations, official news agency Wafa reported.

Erekat made the comments during a meeting with several European diplomats in Jericho. Arab and Muslim nations have unanimously agreed to support the UN bid, he added.

The PLO needs a simple majority vote in the 193-member General Assembly to win non-member observer status. Mohammad Sbeih, secretary-general of Palestinian affairs at the Arab League, told Ma'an on Friday that he expected a vote to take place on Nov. 15.

Israel and the United States have called on Abbas to return to peace talks instead of submitting the UN bid. Negotiations collapsed in 2010 over illegal Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.