The UN General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestinians and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.
The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent, and U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday that the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution.
Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012.
“We’ve been very clear from the beginning that there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries and the Palestinians is to try to go around that,” Wood said Thursday.
“We have said from the beginning that the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the U.N. is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position.”.
In conclusion, unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly, and the resolution is expected to be approved by a large majority, according to three Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.
Enock Katamba is a Ugandan Journalist and Founder of Uncovered UG, an independent digital news platform covering Uganda and international developments. He reports on politics, national affairs, entertainment, sports, business, education and other stories of public interest.