{"id":4370,"date":"2024-04-19T01:16:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T01:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2024-04-19T01:16:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T01:16:06","slug":"us-vetoes-palestinian-bid-for-full-un-membership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=4370","title":{"rendered":"US vetoes Palestinian bid for full UN membership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Palestinians failed to pass a major hurdle in their renewed effort to seek full United Nations membership on Thursday when the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution recommending their admission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners,\u201d said U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Robert Wood.<\/p>\n
He also expressed concern about unresolved questions as to whether the Palestinians meet the criteria to be considered a state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas \u2013 a terrorist organization \u2013 is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Twelve of the 15 council members voted in favor, while Britain and Switzerland abstained.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s ambassador affirmed support for a two-state solution for the Israelis and Palestinians, saying the Palestinians need a credible and irreversible route to a state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that such recognition of Palestinian statehood should not come at the start of a new process, but it doesn\u2019t have to be at the very end of the process,\u201d Barbara Woodward said. \u201cWe must start with fixing the immediate crisis in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Switzerland\u2019s envoy, Pascale Baeriswyl, said Palestinian membership should be considered at a future stage once there is peace.<\/p>\n
U.N. membership begins in the Security Council and if the council recommends admission, it then goes to the full 193-member General Assembly for a vote. A new state needs a two-thirds majority of votes to win admission.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nPalestinian envoy Riyad Mansour speaks during a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters, April 18, 2024.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to replace anyone; we want to enter your club as equals,\u201d Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour told the council. He said they would not give up because the resolution was vetoed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe State of Palestine is inevitable,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is real.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s envoy was adamant that the council should not support Palestinian full membership, saying it would reward Hamas terrorists who had carried out the October 7 attack inside Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of you, sadly, decided to reward Palestinian terror with a Palestinian state,\u201d Ambassador Gilad Erdan said. \u201cIt\u2019s very sad, because your vote will only embolden Palestinian rejectionism even more and make peace almost impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nIsraeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan speaks during a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters, April 18, 2024.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
He thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for \u201cstanding up for truth and morality in the face of hypocrisy and politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the U.S. veto, the Palestinians had the support of the majority of council members.<\/p>\n
“For Guyana, at its core, the Palestinian question is a question of justice,\u201d Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said. \u201cThus far, justice has been delayed and, therefore, justice has been denied to the people of Palestine for more than seven decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Algeria, as the representative of the Arab bloc of nations on the council, put forward the failed two-paragraph draft resolution recommending \u201cto the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an historic right that has not been implemented,\u201d Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said. \u201cAnd the lack of implementation of this right is the cause of the prolongation of this Arab-Israeli conflict. This is the cause of the lack of security and safety in our region \u2013 a region that has not known peace for over 70 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s ambassador said based on \u201call moral imperatives\u201d the Palestinians\u2019 aspirations for membership should be met.<\/p>\n
\u201cPalestine has walked a lengthy and agonizing path towards this point,\u201d Vassily Nebenzia said. \u201cSince 2012, it has enjoyed a singular status at the U.N. \u2013 a nonmember observer state. It is one step away from permanent membership.\u201d<\/p>\n
After an initial bid in 2011 for full membership that stalled in the Security Council without ever coming to a vote, the Palestinians sought and received an upgrade in status at the General Assembly the following year to a \u201cnonmember state.\u201d<\/p>\n
They still cannot vote, but the upgrade allowed them to become a party to treaties that are deposited with the U.N. secretary-general and to join U.N. bodies like the World Health Organization and the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Palestinian](\"https:\/\/gdb.voanews.com\/01000000-0aff-0242-2c25-08dc600841ef_w250_r0_s.jpg\"\/)
\n<\/div>\n![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/gdb.voanews.com\/01000000-0a00-0242-ab05-08dc600841f0_w250_r0_s.jpg\"\/)
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