UN Security Council slated to vote on full Palestinian membership Thursday
US expected to use its veto power to block the vote if it gets necessary majority, after committee was ‘unable to make a unanimous recommendation’
The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to vote Thursday night on a Palestinian request for full UN membership, a move that Israel ally the United States is expected to block because it would effectively recognize a Palestinian state.
The 15-member council was due to vote at 5 p.m. in New York City on a draft resolution that recommends to the 193-member UN General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations,” diplomats said.
The vote was previously schedule to take place Friday but was moved up to Thursday.
A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the US, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass. Diplomats say the measure could have the support of up to 13 council members.
In such a case, a senior diplomat for a country on the Security Council told The Times of Israel, that the US is expected to veto the resolution.
Council member Algeria, which put forward the draft resolution, requested a vote for Thursday afternoon to coincide with a Security Council meeting on the Middle East, which is due to be attended by several ministers.
Recognizing that blocking the initiative would expose it to criticism abroad by proponents of the move who say it helps actualize the two-state solution that the US purports to support, the Biden administration quietly tried to convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to shelve the UNSC bid, a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.
Abbas rebuffed the US efforts, though, amid long-held frustration in Ramallah over what it views as Biden’s failure to sufficiently pressure Israel and refusal to follow-through on promises to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem and the PLO diplomatic mission in Washington.
Recognizing that Abbas would not heed its call, the US has worked to convince other Security Council countries to either abstain or oppose the Palestinian statehood bid, so that it isn’t forced to use its veto, the Palestinian official said.
The United States has said that establishing an independent Palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations between the parties and not at the United Nations.
“We do not see that doing a resolution in the Security Council will necessarily get us to a place where we can find… a two-state solution moving forward,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Wednesday.
The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the 193-member UN General Assembly in 2012. But an application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.
‘Peace-loving states’
The Palestinian push for full UN membership comes six months into a war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, following the terror group’s devastating October 7 assault.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said earlier this month that “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.”
A Security Council committee on the admission of new members — made up of all 15 council members — met twice last week to discuss the Palestinian application and agreed to a report on the issue on Tuesday.
“Regarding the issue of whether the application met all the criteria for membership…the Committee was unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council,” the report said, adding that “differing views were expressed.”
UN membership is open to “peace-loving states” that accept the obligations in the founding UN Charter and are able and willing to carry them out.
