10/5/2024–|Last updated: 10/5/202406:44 PM (Mecca time)
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending that the Security Council positively reconsider Palestine’s membership, while Israel described the potential vote as a “clear violation” of the organization’s charter.
The General Assembly said in its resolution that the Palestinians are eligible to obtain full membership in the organization.
The resolution stipulates strengthening the rights and privileges of the State of Palestine in the United Nations, without allowing it to vote in the General Assembly.
The draft resolution will also allow Palestine to submit proposals and amendments and raise procedural proposals during UN meetings, which it was not able to do before.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz was quick to criticize the decision, describing it as ridiculous and a prize for Hamas.
The move comes despite the opposition of the United States and Israel to the draft resolution, as the Israeli delegate to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said that the General Assembly meeting to vote on a resolution granting the Palestinian Authority the rights of a member state is “a clear violation of the United Nations Charter.”
Erdan claimed in his blog post on the
Earlier, the US State Department announced that Washington believes that a Palestinian state must be born in direct negotiations and not within the framework of the United Nations, after Palestine renewed its request for full membership in the United Nations.
In the middle of last month, the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) also denounced the American veto in the Security Council against full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, while Israel congratulated Washington on its position.
This was during the Security Council’s vote on the draft resolution submitted by Algeria recommending the acceptance of the State of Palestine as a member of the international organization. 12 countries approved the resolution, while Britain and Switzerland abstained, and the United States objected, using its veto as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
Since 1988, 139 of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognized the Palestinian state.
European recognition
For his part, European Union foreign policy official Josep Borrell said yesterday evening, Thursday, that Spain, Ireland and other European Union countries intend to recognize a Palestinian state on May 21.
Borrell’s statements came before the expected vote at the United Nations on Friday on a Palestinian application for full membership in the organization
International.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in March that Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta agreed to take the first steps towards recognizing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, considering that the two-state solution is necessary to achieve lasting peace.
In response to a question by the Spanish radio station (RNE) whether the 21st of this month is the date on which Spain and Ireland, along with other countries in the European Union, will recognize a Palestinian state, Borrell confirmed this, referring to Slovenia as well.
“This is a symbolic act of a political nature. More than just recognition of a state, it will recognize the will of that (Palestinian) state to exist,” he added.
Belgium and other countries will likely make the same decision.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez said earlier that the decision to recognize a Palestinian state had been taken, without specifying a date for its announcement.
While a spokesman for the Spanish Foreign Ministry has not yet responded to requests for comment, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golub said this week that Slovenia will recognize a Palestinian state by mid-June.
These efforts come with increasing international calls to reach a permanent solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to an ongoing Israeli war since the seventh of last October, leaving tens of thousands martyred, wounded and missing amid a humanitarian situation described as catastrophic and a worsening famine.
