U.S. Vetoes Palestinian Bid For Recognition As Full U.N. Member State
THE MOVE BLOCKED a RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT a STATUS THAT PALESTINIANS HAD LONG SOUGHT AT THE UNITED NATIONS, WHERE IT IS CONSIDERED a “nonmember observer state.”
The United States blocked the U.N. Security Council on Thursday from moving forward on a Palestinian bid to be recognized as a full member state at the United Nations, quashing an effort by Palestinian allies to get the world body to back the effort.
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, had described the bid for full-member status as an effort “to take our rightful place among the community of nations.”
But Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, on Thursday denounced the resolution that went before the Security Council as a “prize for terror.” He added: “The U.N. is no longer about multilateralism, sadly. It is now committed to multiterrorism.”
The vote was 12 in favor of the resolution and one — the United States — opposed, with two abstentions.
The Security Council has consistently called for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a result that has failed to materialize during negotiations between the two sides. In Washington, a spokesman for the State Department, Vedant Patel, said the statehood resolution was dead on arrival.
The United States, along with the four other permanent members of the Council, can veto any action before it. On Thursday afternoon, during a high-profile Council meeting to address issues in the Middle East, including the Palestinian bid for statehood, the United States, a staunch ally of Israel’s, wielded that veto.
The resolution had asked the 15-member Security Council to recommend to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations,” diplomats say. To pass, the application needed to be approved by the Security Council with at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China. Then, at least two-thirds of the General Assembly would have had to approved it.
