The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring that Palestinians qualify for full membership of the United Nations, a highly symbolic move that reflects growing global solidarity with the Palestinians and is a rebuke to Israel and USA.
The resolution was approved by 143 votes to 9, with 25 nations abstaining. The Assembly broke into great applause after the vote.
But the resolution does not mean that a Palestinian state will be recognized and admitted to the United Nations as a full member any time soon. The Assembly can only grant full membership with Security Council approval, and if history is any guide, the United States would almost inevitably exercise its veto power to overturn such a move, as it did in April.
Although a majority in the General Assembly has long supported the creation of a Palestinian state, the resolution was the first time the body voted on the question of full membership. The resolution declares that “the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations” under the rules of its charter and recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter with a favorable outcome.
The resolution was prepared by the United Arab Emirates, current chair of the UN Arab Group, and sponsored by 70 countries. The United States voted no, along with Hungary, Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia and Nauru.
Although largely symbolic, the resolution grants new diplomatic privileges to the Palestinians. Palestinians can now sit among member states in alphabetical order; they can speak at General Assembly meetings on any topic rather than limiting themselves to Palestinian issues; they can present proposals and amendments; and may participate in United Nations conferences and international meetings organized by the Assembly and other United Nations entities.
The 193-member General Assembly took up the question of Palestinian membership after the United States vetoed a resolution before the Security Council in April that would have recognized full membership of a Palestinian state. While most council members supported the move, the United States said recognition of the Palestinian state should be achieved through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Frustration with the United States has been brewing for months among many senior U.N. officials and diplomats, including from allies like France, because Washington has repeatedly blocked ceasefire resolutions in the Security Council and strongly supported Israel’s war. against Hamas in Gaza. even as civilian suffering has increased.
“The United States is resigned to having another bad day at the UN,” said Richard Gowan, a UN expert for the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organization. But he added that the resolution “gives the Palestinians a boost without creating a divide over whether or not they are members of the UN.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, told the Assembly before the vote that the Palestinians’ right to full UN membership and statehood “are not subject to negotiation, they are our inherent rights as Palestinians.” . He added that a vote against the Palestinian state was a vote against the two-state solution.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, a harsh critic of the UN, said that voting for a Palestinian state would be inviting “a state of terror” into its midst and rewarding “terrorists” who killed Jewish civilians with privileges and called the member states they support “those who hate the Jews”.
Robert A. Wood, US ambassador to the UN, said that while the United States supported a two-state solution as the only means to sustainable peace, “it remains the view of the United States that unilateral measures at the UN and above the ground will not advance.” this goal.”
Wood said that if the Assembly refers the issue back to the Council, the veto would again have the same result and the United States would block the measure.
The Palestinians are currently recognized by the UN as a non-member observer state, a status granted to them in 2012 by the General Assembly. They do not have the right to vote on General Assembly resolutions or nominate candidates for UN agencies.
France, a close ally of the United States and one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, has supported the Palestinian bid for statehood by breaking with the United States’ position at the UN, both in the Council vote and in the the assembly. “The time has come for the United Nations to take action with a view to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the basis of the two-state solution,” said French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Rivière in his speech on Friday.
The Assembly session, which was expected to last until Monday due to the long list of speakers, was not without its moments of drama.
Gilad, the Israeli ambassador, held up the photograph of Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar, considered the architect of the October 7 attacks on Israel, with the word “President,” and then a transparent shredder, inserting a piece of paper inside. , and said member states were “trashing the UN charter.”
Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador, at the end of his speech raised his fist in the air, visibly holding back tears, and said “Free Palestine.” The Assembly burst into applause.