{"id":259342,"date":"2024-04-15T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=259342"},"modified":"2024-04-11T06:07:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T05:07:40","slug":"as-palestine-applies-for-full-un-membership-whats-in-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/04\/as-palestine-applies-for-full-un-membership-whats-in-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"As Palestine Applies for Full UN Membership, What\u2019s in the Way?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_259343\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unsc-palestine.webp\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-259343\" class=\"wp-image-259343\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unsc-palestine.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unsc-palestine.webp 770w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unsc-palestine-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/unsc-palestine-768x512.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-259343\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour addresses the UN Security Council on 25 Mar 2024, after a vote that passed a ceasefire resolution in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, its first demand to halt fighting.<br \/>[Craig Ruttle\/AP Photo]<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><em>History set to be repeated as the US prepares to wield veto, cynically insisting Palestine must negotiate statehood with Israel first.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>9 Apr 2024<\/em> &#8211; The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/4\/8\/un-security-council-refers-palestines-full-membership-bid-to-committee\" >UN Security Council<\/a> on Monday asked its membership committee to review the Palestinian Authority\u2019s application to be made a full member state of the United Nations. The PA is currently a non-member observer state like the Vatican.<\/p>\n<p>The application, which coincided with six months of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, revives a longstanding bid. Malta\u2019s UN ambassador Vanessa Frazier, the UNSC\u2019s current president, said on Monday that the body would make a formal decision in April.<\/p>\n<p>Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour said that all Palestine wants is to be treated as \u201cequals to other nations and states\u201d. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, and a state of near-famine prevails over large parts of the besieged Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At the General Assembly, Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour reiterates that all we ask for is our rightful place among nations and to be treated as equals \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf3 <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W4VfmXbNUE\" >pic.twitter.com\/W4VfmXbNUE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Palestine_UN\/status\/1777347242921275594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >April 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But this is not the first time that Palestine has pushed for full UN membership. A previous attempt in 2011 didn\u2019t even make it to a vote. And even if it had, the veto-wielding United States had pledged to block it.<\/p>\n<p>So, what\u2019s different now? Can Palestine succeed this time around?<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-happened-before\">What happened before?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThis is a historic moment again,\u201d said Mansour on Monday, referring back to Palestine\u2019s original membership application made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the UN\u2019s then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2011.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_701546\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-701546\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-701546\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/2011919161826661734_20.jpeg?w=680&amp;resize=680%2C450&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"Abbas Ban Ki-moon statehood\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-701546\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right, shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the UN Headquarters in New York, on September 19, 2011 [Jessica Rinaldi\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Back then, a UNSC committee assessed the bid for several weeks but was unable to reach a unanimous position. The Security Council never formally voted on a resolution on Palestinian membership.<\/p>\n<p>Diplomats said Palestine lacked the minimum nine votes needed to adopt a resolution. The situation saved the US, Israel\u2019s closest ally, from having to wield its veto to deny Palestinian membership.<\/p>\n<p>The US has repeatedly said full UN membership should follow a deal between Israel and the Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p>After the failed membership bid, the UN General Assembly upgraded Palestine from a \u201cnon-member observer entity\u201d to a \u201cnon-member observer state\u201d in 2012.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-s-the-process-at-the-unsc-now\">What\u2019s the process at the UNSC now?<\/h2>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/tag\/palestinian-authority\/\" >PA<\/a> last week formally asked the UN Security Council to reconsider its 2011 application to become a full member of the world body.<\/p>\n<p>The 15-member membership committee will reconvene for a second time this week on Thursday to further discuss whether Palestine satisfies conditions.<\/p>\n<p>They can either shelve the application or put it forward for a formal vote in the UNSC.<\/p>\n<p>Approval requires at least nine votes in favour, with no vetoes. The UNSC\u2019s five permanent members \u2013 the US, Russia, China, France and Britain \u2013 hold vetoes.<\/p>\n<p>But the US has indicated that its opposition to Palestinian member status in the UN, in the absence of a broader deal with Israel, stays intact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur position has not changed,\u201d Robert Wood, US deputy ambassador to the UN, said last week.<\/p>\n<p>In essence, that means it is likely that the US would veto the Palestinian Authority\u2019s application if it does come up for a vote in the UNSC.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-happens-if-the-application-does-pass-the-unsc\">What happens if the application does pass the UNSC?<\/h2>\n<p>If the Palestinian Authority\u2019s application does get through the UNSC, it then moves to the UNGA, where it needs a two-thirds majority to be approved.<\/p>\n<p>A country cannot join the United Nations as a member state unless both the Security Council and General Assembly approve.<\/p>\n<p>The application stands a better chance in the UNGA than in the UNSC. Already, 139 nations \u2013 comfortably more than two-thirds of the General Assembly \u2013 recognise Palestine as a state.<\/p>\n<p>And unlike the UNSC, no nation has a veto to overrule the majority in the UNGA.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What has Israel said?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Israel has long argued that allowing the Palestinian Authority to get full member status of the UN independent of talks between the sides would effectively jeopardise negotiations for a future Palestinian state.<\/p>\n<p>But in recent years, Israel \u2013 especially under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2013 has sharply moved away from a two-state solution, leaving those negotiations less relevant for Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Israel\u2019s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, drew links between Palestinian statehood and his country\u2019s ability to survive. Harking to the UN\u2019s establishment, he said \u201cthe same genocidal ideology that this body was founded to combat is still prevalent among the Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The US, for its part, remained equally intransigent. \u201cThe issue of full Palestinian membership is a decision that should be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians,\u201d Wood told reporters.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/4\/9\/as-palestine-applies-for-full-un-membership-whats-in-the-way\" >Go to Original &#8211; aljazeera.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><i><b>Join the<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><i><b> <\/b><\/i><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><i><b>BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><i><b>campaign<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>DON&#8217;T BUY<\/b><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/b><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>BARCODE<\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b> STARTS WITH<\/b><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>729<\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\">, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. <\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>9 Apr 2024 &#8211; History set to be repeated as the US prepares to wield veto, cynically insisting Palestine must negotiate statehood with Israel first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":259343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[532,1854,2898,1199,2242,87,865,1643,1029,1966,1644,88,2416,715,427,124,70,965,1025],"class_list":["post-259342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-colonialism","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-ecocide","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-famine","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-genocide-convention","tag-hamas","tag-hunger","tag-international-court-of-justice-icj","tag-israel","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-massacre","tag-palestine","tag-united-nations","tag-usa","tag-war-crimes","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259345,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259342\/revisions\/259345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}