Tens of thousands of Palestinians are rallying in the occupied West Bank towns of Ramallah and Nablus today in a show of support for the statehood bid at the United Nations. The demonstrations come ahead of a speech by President Obama in which he is expected to press his case for subverting the statehood attempt. The Israeli government is also frantically trying to thwart the Palestinian effort. Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attempt to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Mark Regev: “My prime minister has said he’s willing to meet President Abbas here in Jerusalem. He’s willing to go to Ramallah to meet President Abbas there. He said last night he’s willing to meet President Abbas in New York. President Abbas is already there. We will be arriving tomorrow. We want to see a meeting. We want to see the restart of the peace talks between us and the Palestinians.”

The Obama administration has tried to undermine the Palestinian effort for statehood despite insisting it supports a two-state solution. On Tuesday, a group of Palestinian citizens of Israel gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to denounce the Obama administration’s opposition to Palestinian statehood.

Protester: “We are here to protest against the intention of the United States to vote veto against a Palestinian state in the United Nations. We think that the United States is biased toward Israel and actually became an obstacle toward just peace in the region.”