Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
UN Assembly Approves Resolution Enhancing Palestine's Rights, Reviving UN Membership Bid
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 months ago on
May 10, 2024

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution granting enhanced rights to Palestine and urged the Security Council to reconsider its bid for full UN membership, despite opposition from the United States and Israel. (Shutterstock)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

The 193-member world body approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions.

United States Veto

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.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear on Thursday that the Biden administration opposed the assembly resolution. The United States was among the nine countries voting against it, along with Israel.

“We’ve been very clear from the beginning 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 the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the U.N. is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position.”

The Prospective Members Clause

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.

The resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership — dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favorably.”

The renewed push for full Palestinian membership in the U.N. comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage. At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,000 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many countries.

Original Draft of the Resolution

The original draft of the assembly resolution was changed significantly to address concerns not only by the U.S. but also by Russia and China, according to three Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.

The first draft would have conferred on Palestine “the rights and privileges necessary to ensure its full and effective participation” in the assembly’s sessions and U.N. conferences “on equal footing with member states.” It also made no reference to whether Palestine could vote in the General Assembly.

According to the diplomats, Russia and China, which are strong supporters of Palestine’s U.N. membership, were concerned that granting the list of rights and privileges detailed in an annex to the resolution could set a precedent for other would-be U.N. members — with Russia concerned about Kosovo and China about Taiwan.

Under longstanding legislation by the U.S. Congress, the United States is required to cut off funding to U.N. agencies that give full membership to a Palestinian state — which could mean a cutoff in dues and voluntary contributions to the U.N. from its largest contributor.

The final draft drops the language that would put Palestine “on equal footing with member states.” And to address Chinese and Russian concerns, it would decide “on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent” to adopt the rights and privileges in the annex.

The draft also adds a provision in the annex on the issue of voting, stating categorically: “The state of Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs.”

The Final List of Privileges

The final list of rights and privileges in the draft annex includes giving Palestine the right to speak on all issues not just those related to the Palestinians and Middle East, the right to propose agenda items and reply in debates, and the right to be elected as officers in the assembly’s main committees. It would give the Palestinians the right to participate in U.N. and international conferences convened by the United Nations — but it drops their “right to vote” which was in the original draft.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas first delivered the Palestinian Authority’s application for U.N. membership in 2011. It failed because the Palestinians didn’t get the required minimum support of nine of the Security Council’s 15 members.

They went to the General Assembly and succeeded by more than a two-thirds majority in having their status raised from a U.N. observer to a non-member observer state. That opened the door for the Palestinian territories to join U.N. and other international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.

In the Security Council vote on April 18, the Palestinians got much more support for full U.N. membership. The vote was 12 in favor, the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstaining, and the United States voting no and vetoing the resolution.

Watch the video by clicking here

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

CHP Car Struck by Drunk Driver While Investigating Another Crash

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Ejected From Car Dies Off McKinley Avenue

DON'T MISS

‘Leave It the Way It Is’: Off-Roaders, Hikers React to Proposal to Change 1.4M Acres of Sierra Forest

DON'T MISS

Yankees Retain Cole, Add $36 Million Extension to Keep Ace

DON'T MISS

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

DON'T MISS

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

DON'T MISS

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

DON'T MISS

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

DON'T MISS

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

UP NEXT

Fresno Man Ejected From Car Dies Off McKinley Avenue

UP NEXT

‘Leave It the Way It Is’: Off-Roaders, Hikers React to Proposal to Change 1.4M Acres of Sierra Forest

UP NEXT

Yankees Retain Cole, Add $36 Million Extension to Keep Ace

UP NEXT

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

UP NEXT

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

UP NEXT

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

UP NEXT

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

UP NEXT

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

UP NEXT

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

Yankees Retain Cole, Add $36 Million Extension to Keep Ace

6 hours ago

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

6 hours ago

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

6 hours ago

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

6 hours ago

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

7 hours ago

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

7 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

7 hours ago

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

7 hours ago

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

8 hours ago

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

8 hours ago

CHP Car Struck by Drunk Driver While Investigating Another Crash

A driver suspected of being under the influence crashed into a California Highway Patrol car early Sunday, officials said. Officers were inv...

3 hours ago

A driver suspected of DUI crashed into a parked California Highway Patrol car at a fatal crash scene in Fresno County, sustaining minor injuries and later being cited. (Fresno County SO)
3 hours ago

CHP Car Struck by Drunk Driver While Investigating Another Crash

fresno
3 hours ago

Fresno Man Ejected From Car Dies Off McKinley Avenue

4 hours ago

‘Leave It the Way It Is’: Off-Roaders, Hikers React to Proposal to Change 1.4M Acres of Sierra Forest

New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in Game 5 of the baseball World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in New York. (AP/Ashley Landis)
6 hours ago

Yankees Retain Cole, Add $36 Million Extension to Keep Ace

Voters cast their ballots at Desert Breeze Community Center in Las Vegas during the last day of in-person early voting in Nevada on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Nearly 75 million people have cast early ballots, making their voices heard amid worry about the process, the outcome and democracy itself. (Bridget Bennett/The New York Times)
6 hours ago

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

6 hours ago

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

6 hours ago

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

7 hours ago

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

Search

Send this to a friend