The U.N. General Assembly voted to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and urged the Security Council to reconsider its request for U.N. membership, according to AP. The 193-member world body approved the Arab and Palestinian sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions.
On April 18, the United States vetoed a council resolution supporting Palestine’s bid for full UN membership, a goal opposed by Israel.
Under the U.N. Charter, prospective UN members must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council recommends their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a UN non-member observer state in 2012.
“We’ve been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries and the Palestinians is to try to go around that,” US Ambassador Robert Wood said Thursday. “We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the U.N. is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position.”
The General Assembly, unlike the Security Council, doesn’t have vetoes. According to three Western diplomats speaking anonymously due to private negotiations, the resolution is likely to be approved by a large majority.
The draft resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership – dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favorably.”
The renewed push for full Palestinian U.N. membership coincides with the Gaza war, bringing the 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the forefront. At council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the death toll of over 34,000, as reported by Gaza health officials, have sparked outrage from many countries.
“The original draft of the assembly resolution was changed significantly to address concerns not only by the U.S. but also by Russia and China,” the diplomats said.
The first draft would have conferred on Palestine “the rights and privileges necessary to ensure its full and effective participation” in the assembly’s sessions and U.N. conferences “on equal footing with member states.” It also made no reference to whether Palestine could vote in the General Assembly.
According to the diplomats, Russia and China, strong supporters of Palestine’s U.N. membership, feared that granting the rights detailed in the resolution’s annex might establish a precedent for other aspiring U.N. members. Russia worried about Kosovo, while China worried about Taiwan.
Under U.S. Congress legislation, the U.S. must stop funding U.N. agencies that grant full membership to a Palestinian state. This could lead to a halt in dues and voluntary contributions to the U.N. from its largest contributor.
The final draft drops the language that would put Palestine “on equal footing with member states.” And to address Chinese and Russian concerns, it would decide “on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent” to adopt the rights and privileges in the annex.
The draft also adds a provision in the annex on the issue of voting, stating categorically: “The state of Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs.”
The draft annex grants Palestine several rights: speaking on all issues (not just those about Palestinians and the Middle East), proposing agenda items, replying in debates, and being elected as officers in the assembly’s main committees. Palestinians would also participate in U.N. and international conferences convened by the United Nations, but their “right to vote,” initially included, is omitted.
In 2011, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted the Palestinian Authority’s application for U.N. membership. It failed due to insufficient support from Security Council members. However, they later succeeded in the General Assembly, gaining non-member observer state status by a two-thirds majority. This enabled the Palestinian territories to join various international organizations, such as the International Criminal Court.
In the April 18 Security Council vote, Palestinians gained substantial backing for full U.N. membership. The tally was 12 in favor, with the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstaining, and the United States vetoing the resolution.
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