US stops UN from recognizing a Palestinian state through membership

• Published date: 19 April 2024
• Author: TOVAH LAZAROFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties," US Ambassador Robert Wood said after the vote

The US was the only nation out of the 15-member UNSC to object to admitting Palestine as the 194th UN member state. Twelve UNSC nations, including France, approved the move. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained.

The motion failed, however, because the US is one of five permanent UNSC members with veto power, such that its "no" vote blocks the motion.

Some 139 UN member states recognize Palestine as a state, but Security Council approval is a necessary step for membership. Already in 2012 UN General Assembly recognized Pauline as a non-member state, a move which granted it de-facto recognition and allowed it to operate as a state within the UN, albeit one without full rights.

The Palestinian Authority pushed for full statehood recognition on Thursday, for the first time in 12 years, in a bid to maximize growing support among Western countries for unilateral Palestinian statehood in light of the Israel-Hamas war.

Although Hamas began the war with its invasion of Israel on October 7, killing over 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, international public sympathy has been with the Palestinians in Gaza in light of the high fatality count of over 33,000. Israel has said that over 13,000 of those are combatants.

Direct Talks

At the UNSC, Wood said there were "unresolved questions as to whether the applicant [the PA] meets the criteria to be considered a State."

"We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas – a terrorist organization – is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution."

"The United States continues to strongly support a two-state solution. This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties."

Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour pushed back at Wood, stating that UN membership for his people was an "investment in peace."

"The people of Palestine will not disappear. We will not be buried" or "erased," he stated.

"We came to the Security Council today at an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we...