WASHINGTON - The US government on Thursday said explicitly that Washington will veto any Palestinian effort to seek a statehood at the United Nations Security Council.

"It should not come as a shock to anyone in this room that the US opposes a move in New York by the Palestinians to try to establish a state that can only be achieved through negotiations," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at a regular briefing.

"So, yes, if something comes to a vote in the UN Security Council, the US will veto," she said.

The Palestinians announced on Thursday that they had decided to go to the UN later in September to request the recognition of a full membership of the state of Palestine established on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The decision by the Palestinians means that the effort by the Obama administration to convince them not to seek a vote at UN had failed.  

The potential veto by the US would likely inflame anti- America sentiment in the Muslim population and further alienate an already turbulent Arab world.

Furthermore, analysts believe that the US does not have enough support to stop a UN General Assembly vote to elevate the status of Palestinians' non-voting observer "entity" to that of a non-voting observer "state."