UN committee to discuss Palestinian bid for full membership

The United Nations Security Council has referred the application of the observer State of Palestine for full membership to the specialized committee set up to vet new members.

The Council's President made the announcement on Monday (Apr. 8).

“I shall refer to the Committee on the Admission of New Members the request that renewed consideration be given to the application of the Observer State of Palestine during the month of April 2024. As I hear no objection, it is so decided.”

The specialized commitee shall examine any application referred to it and report its conclusions thereon to the Council.

Palestine is a non-member observer State of the UN, the same status as held by the Holy See.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered the Palestinian Authority’s application to become the 194th member of the United Nations to then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sept. 23, 2011, before addressing world leaders at the General Assembly.

After decades of failed on-and-off peace talks, the Palestinians hope the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will become a reality.

“Today is a historic moment,”  Riyad Mansour, the permanent Observer to the United Nations of Palestine said.

“After we have these 2 equal full members in the United Nations, we open the door slightly in the direction of peace and we hope that the Security Council, which is trusted in the maintenance of international peace and security, to allow for that door to open slightly in the direction of the implementation of the two-state solution, which requires the end of occupation and the independence of the State of Palestine.”

Israel’s current right-wing government is dominated by hard-liners who oppose Palestinian statehood. The nation's ambassador Gilad Erdan believes that a hypothetic Palestinian state  “won't be a regular state, it will be a ‘Palestinazi’ state, an entity that achieved statehood despite being committed to terror and Israel's annihilation.”

He said granting the Palestinians a state perpetuates the conflict.

The latest war in the decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict is raging in Gaza.

Risk of veto?

The admission of new UN member is decided by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

If the Security Council presents a recommendation, it goes forward to the General Assembly along with a complete record of the deliberations.

If the Security Council does not recommend the applicant State for membership or postpones the consideration of the application, it submits a special report plus record of discussions, to the General Assembly.

 United States said relations between Israel and the Palestinians are far from ripe. That all but quashes the Palestinian Authority's U.N. membership hopes for now.

The U.S. is one of five permanent members who can veto any council action. Members of its U.N. delegation reiterated Monday that the Palestinian Authority needs to exert control over all of the Palestinian territories and negotiate statehood with Israel before it wins statehood.

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Its forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007, and it has no power there.