RAMALLAH - The top Palestinian diplomat Sunday accused the United States of "intentional procrastination" after the Palestinians' bid for full UN membership was transferred to a committee of experts. ?

Reyad al-Malki, the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) foreign minister, told the "Voice of Palestine" radio that the US administration "is following the principle of procrastination and postponement in dealing with our bid in the Security Council."

On September 23, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted the request for full membership of a Palestinian state in the 1967 territories to the UN Security Council.

The Security Council convened twice to discuss and debate the Palestinian bid, and decided last week to transfer it to a Security Council committee of experts that will study the bid next week.

"We expect that the Palestinian bid for UN membership would be postponed for more time depending on the laws of the United Nations," said Malki.

However, "We will follow carefully all the measures that would lead to bringing the bid to the Security Council for voting," he said, adding that eight members in the Security council have asserted that they will vote in favor of the bid.

Meanwhile, Malki said the Palestinians were not officially informed by the United States that the US Congress had decided not to transfer 200 million US dollars to the PNA budget in response to their UN membership bid.

He ruled out the possibility that the PNA will go through a severe financial crisis due to the US threats to cut its financial aid to the PNA.

"Such a decision won't obstruct the ongoing Palestinian efforts to gain the full membership of a state in the UN," said Malki.