RAMALLAH  (AFP) – Tens of thousands of Palestinians erupted into cheers of victory across the West Bank on Friday as their president handed over a request for full United Nations membership.

In central Ramallah, Arafat Square roared its approval with whistles and raucous cheering when Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose speech was broadcast on giant television screens, announced the bid had been submitted.

“Abbas, we are your people and you truly make us raise our heads high,” they shouted. “With our souls and our blood, we will defend Palestine!”

Similar sights played out across the rest of the West Bank, where tens of thousands of people turned out to watch Abbas’s speech.

“There are tens of thousands of people who are now in the centre of the main cities like Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus,” security services spokesman Adnan Damiri told AFP.

In Hebron, crowds cheered as a huge balloon decorated with a Palestinian flag and a picture of Abbas was released above them into the night.

Waving their national flag, the exuberant crowd chanted “Palestine 194” in reference to their bid to become the 194th member state of the United Nations.

Ahead of Abbas’s speech, the mood was festive, with dancing and singing and plenty of noisy celebration.

But as he approached the UN podium to address the General Assembly, crowds in cities across the West Bank fell silent.

They listened, waiting for the moment he would officially announce he had handed over the request for the UN to accept Palestine as a full member state — and then they went wild.

Men and women jumped up and down, arm-in-arm, waving flags and chanting “God is great, God is great!”

“It’s just wonderful, it’s very emotional,” said Mona Matar, a professor of computer science at Bethlehem University.

“I’m so lucky to live to see this day, us having the courage to say no to everybody. To see that Abbas does not care what Obama wants, but what his people want.”

At the end of the speech, the crowd again began to cheer, parents boosting their children onto their shoulders, and posing for pictures by giant posters featuring Abbas and his predecessor Yasser Arafat.

The ghost of Arafat, the iconic Palestinian leader, loomed large over the proceedings, with the crowd frequently chanting his name and cheering at Abbas’s mention of the former president.

“We really miss Arafat at this historical moment,” Matar said. “He was something special.”

In Nablus, massive crowds were entertained by the Al-Ashaqeen folk band, which played patriotric songs to the delight of the crowd.

Majed Hussein, a government employee, welcomed Abbas’s speech.

“Today we got back our dignity. Obama and America can go to hell. We don’t need their money, we need our dignity,” he said.

“The president’s (Abbas’s) speech was touching,” added Mohammed Kayed, a farmer. “But I wanted to hear him tell Obama that his speech was unjust to the Palestinians and using the veto would be the biggest injustice.”

In his address to the UN General Assembly, the US president angered many Palestinians by failing to mention their suffering or Israel’s continued construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

He has also renewed his threat to use the US veto in the Security Council to block the Palestinian bid for membership as a state.

The festive moods at rallies supporting the speech was in sharp contrast to earlier clashes at flashpoints across the West Bank, including in east Jerusalem.

In Qusra village south of Nablus, a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops in clashes that erupted after settlers attacked the village, Palestinian hospital sources told AFP.

Issam Badran, 37, died after being hit in the neck by a live bullet, they said, while another three Palestinians were lightly wounded by rubber bullets.

Elsewhere, clashes were reported between Israeli soldiers and stonethrowers at the Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, as well as at a weekly protest in Nabi Saleh, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) further north.