The News
The United States on Thursday vetoed a draft UN resolution to grant full membership to Palestine, a vote that would have effectively recognized a Palestinian state had it passed.
Twelve members of the United Nations Security Council voted yes to the resolution, introduced by Algeria, that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership” of the world body, while Britain and Switzerland abstained.
Palestine has held non-member observer status at the UN since 2012, when the UN General Assembly granted a de facto recognition of statehood.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said the U.S. veto “represents a blatant aggression against international law and an encouragement to the pursuit of the genocidal war against our people... which pushes the region ever further to the edge of the abyss.”
Palestine revived its previous bid for UN membership in early April amid Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, despite the U.S., a staunch Israel ally, repeatedly saying it would exercise its veto power.
A State Department spokesperson said earlier this month that any recognition of Palestinian statehood “should be done through direct negotiations between the parties… and not at the United Nations.”
In order to become a full UN member, Palestine’s bid would have needed to be approved by at least nine votes, without a veto from permanent members U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China.
More than 33,000 people have died in Gaza since the onset of war, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
SIGNALS
Gaza war has reopened question of Palestinian statehood
While 139 countries recognize Palestine, major Western democracies do not – but the war in Gaza may change this. Since the conflict began, Britain has stated it is considering recognizing Palestine, while countries including Norway, Spain, and Ireland have also taken steps towards formal recognition, and leaders in France have said that the topic is “not a taboo for France” anymore.
Although the United States has voiced opposition to UN membership status, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has requested that the State Department conduct a review of policy options on U.S. and international recognition of a Palestinian state — but only after the war ends. Similarly, a top British diplomat said that after a permanent ceasefire and the removal of Hamas from Gaza, “this advance to a solution becomes more real.”
UN membership could help end Israeli-Palestinian conflict
UN membership would pave the way for Israel and Palestine to negotiate a permanent change of status, “not as a set of concessions between the occupier and the occupied, but between two entities that are equal in the eyes of international law,” a former U.S. State Department official wrote in the Los Angeles Times.
Yet while US recognition of Palestine and UN membership “can be hugely important in the effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” peace activist Jerome Segal wrote for Foreign Policy, it needs to be part of a broader peace plan. Hamas would likely take credit for UN recognition, demonstrating that “only armed struggle produces results,” Segal wrote, adding that it would also help the efforts of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stoke Israeli fears over the threat posed by Hamas, Segal wrote, boosting the embattled leader’s political fortunes.