Palestinian Authority pushing for full-fledged UN membership
Ramallah hopes the U.N. Security Council will make a decision at an April 18 meeting on the Middle East.
The Palestinian Authority intends to press the United Nations to schedule a vote on its admission as a full member of the world body later this month, Ramallah’s permanent U.N. “observer” told Reuters on Monday night.
“The intention is to put the application to a vote in the Security Council this month,” Riyad Mansour told the press agency. He added that the Palestinian Authority hopes the U.N. Security Council will make a decision at an April 18 meeting on the Middle East.
Mansour claimed Ramallah’s 2011 application for full membership was still pending, because the Security Council never made a formal decision. The P.A. currently holds U.N. observer status.
“Whoever supports recognizing a Palestinian state at such a time not only gives a prize to terror, but also backs unilateral steps which are contradictory to the agreed upon principle of direct negotiations,” stated Gilad Erdan, Israel’s U.N. ambassador.
Erdan said that Ramallah did not meet required criteria for statehood in its previous bid for full-fledged U.N. membership and “has only moved further from the goals it should achieve since.”
For the Palestinian Authority to gain full U.N. member state status, at least nine of the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council must approve the application, and then two-thirds of the U.N. General Assembly would have to support it in a vote.
However the first vote went, a permanent Security Council member, like Washington, could veto the decision, although the Biden administration is reportedly considering withdrawing that veto power against “Palestine” being admitted as a full U.N. member state.
There is widespread opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Israel, particularly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, which many see as a reward for terror and an incentive to commit more atrocities.
Nearly two-thirds (66%) of Israeli Jews oppose the creation of a Palestinian state while 27% support it, per this year’s “Peace Index” survey, which Tel Aviv University released.
On Feb. 21, the Israeli Knesset voted 99-11 to back the government’s decision to reject any unilateral recognition of “Palestine.” All coalition lawmakers and most members of the Zionist opposition parties voted in favor of supporting a Cabinet statement rejecting “international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians.”
Palestinian polls suggest that 89% of Palestinians support establishing a government that includes or is led by Hamas, which seeks to destroy Israel in its entirety and replace it with a Palestinian-Islamic state.
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