Expected American Veto to Prevent Palestinian Membership in the United Nations
The Chinese ambassador says the United States has, as usual, shattered the Palestinian dream of establishing an independent state
On Thursday, the United States dashed the faint hopes of Palestinians to obtain full membership in the United Nations by, as expected, exercising its veto right at the Security Council against this demand, previously criticized by its ally Israel, which is waging war in Gaza.
The resolution presented by Algeria, which “recommends that the General Assembly accept the State of Palestine as a member of the United Nations,” was supported by 12 members, opposed by the United States, and abstained by two other members (the United Kingdom and Switzerland).
The Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, condemned on Thursday the use of the US veto, seeing it as a “blatant aggression” pushing the region “to the brink of the abyss.” Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said that this rejection “will not break our will and will not stop our determination. We will not stop our efforts. The State of Palestine is inevitable, it is real.”
He added in a poignant speech: “Do not forget that when this session ends, there will still be innocents in Palestine paying with their lives and the lives of their children the price of Israeli actions, the price of delaying justice, freedom, and peace.” Hamas, for its part, condemned in a brief statement “the American veto in the Security Council against the draft resolution granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations, and assures the world that our Palestinian people will continue their struggle until the defeat of the occupation, the recovery of their rights, and the establishment of their independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Despite the American veto, the “overwhelming support” from Council members “sends a very clear message: the State of Palestine deserves its place” at the United Nations, according to Algerian Ambassador Ammar Benjamaa, promising on behalf of the Arab group to resubmit this request later and adding, “Yes, we will come back stronger.”
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan condemned the countries that supported the project. He said: “Speaking to this Council is like speaking to a wall,” considering that the voices supporting the project will encourage the Palestinians not to return to the negotiation table and “make peace almost impossible.”
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said “today is a sad day,” expressing his “disappointment” at the American veto, adding “the dream of the Palestinian people has been shattered.”
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said that “this vote does not reflect opposition to the Palestinian state, but it is a recognition that it can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties concerned.”
This comes as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned against the Middle East slipping into a “comprehensive regional conflict.”
Earlier, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ziad Abu Amr, during a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, said that “granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations would alleviate some of the historical injustice suffered by successive generations of the Palestinian people, and open wide prospects for achieving a true peace based on justice, a peace that would benefit all states and peoples of the region.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the Council that “occupation and peace are two opposites that do not meet. There is no peace as long as the occupation remains, and there is no security as long as Israeli injustice denies the humanity of the Palestinian people, their right to life, freedom, dignity, security, and a state.”
Saudi Arabia expressed regret on Friday in a statement on the AX platform for the failure of the Security Council to accept full membership for the State of Palestine, considering that it “contributes to consolidating the continuation of Israeli violations of the rules of international law.”
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs lamented in its statement that the United Nations Security Council did not adopt a draft resolution to accept full membership for the State of Palestine in the United Nations, adding that “hindering full membership for the State of Palestine in the United Nations contributes to consolidating the obstinacy of the Israeli occupation and perpetuating its violations of international law without being held accountable, and will not bring us closer to the long-awaited peace.”
The ministry also renewed the kingdom’s call “to the international community to fulfill its responsibility to stop the Israeli occupation’s attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip, to support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of their Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant international resolutions.”
During the session, the Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ambassador Hossam Zaki, called on the United Nations Security Council to assume its responsibilities, and not to disappoint the aspirations of the Palestinian people and their legitimate effort for independence and membership” in the international organization.
Amid the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority asked the Security Council earlier this month to reconsider the request it made in 2011 for full membership in the United Nations.
Algeria, as the representing member of the Arab group at the Security Council, presented a draft resolution recommending that the General Assembly “accept the State of Palestine as a member of the United Nations.”
The Maltese diplomatic mission, currently holding the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council for April, said that the vote on the draft resolution would take place on Thursday at 21:00 GMT, although the United States, which has a veto right, has explicitly expressed its opposition.
Richard Gowan, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, said: “I think the American veto is fully confirmed,” expecting that the UK might also abstain from voting on the Algerian resolution, as well as Japan and South Korea. A state can be admitted to the UN by a resolution passed by the General Assembly with a two-thirds majority, but only after a positive recommendation to this effect from the Security Council.
The recommendation of the Security Council must be made by a resolution approved by at least nine of the fifteen Council members and subject to none of the five permanent members using their veto right to oppose it. According to the Palestinian Authority, 137 of the UN’s 193 member states have so far recognized the State of Palestine.
In September 2011, the President of the Authority submitted a request “for the admission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations.” Although this initiative did not yield results, the Palestinians obtained in November 2012 the status of “non-member observer state” at the United Nations.
