PA envoy: Full UN status for Palestinians would ease ‘historic injustice’

Full UN membership for the Palestinians would help alleviate the “historic injustice” suffered by generations, a senior Palestinian Authority official says ahead of a Security Council vote on the membership bid.

The vote is expected to take place at 5:00 p.m. (2100 GMT), according to Malta, which holds the council’s rotating presidency.

“Granting Palestine full membership at the United Nations will lift some of the historic injustice that succeeding Palestinian generations have been subjected to,” the special PA envoy, Ziad Abu Amr, tells the Security Council.

“It will open wide prospects before a true peace based on justice.”

Any request to become a UN member state must first earn a recommendation from the Security Council — meaning at least nine positive votes out of 15, and no vetoes — and then be endorsed by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.

The United States is expected to use its veto power, having stated that the UN is not the venue for recognition of a Palestinian state, which must be the result of a peace deal with Israel.

PA President Mahmud Abbas launched a membership application in 2011, but it never came before the Security Council for a vote. The General Assembly then voted to grant the Palestinians observer status in November 2012.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.