The United States vetoed the draft resolution of the UN Security Council, which recommended that the General Assembly grant the Palestinian Authority full membership in the Organization.
The draft resolution was presented by Algeria. 12 members of the UN Security Council, including Russia and China, voted in favor. Switzerland and Great Britain abstained, and only the United States voted against.
Currently, the Palestinian Authority has the status of an observer state, which is not a member of the UN. This status allows Palestine to participate in all meetings of the Organization, but it does not have the right to vote in the main bodies of the United Nations. The application for full membership in the UN must be approved by the Security Council, and then by at least two-thirds of the UN General Assembly.
The US believes that an independent Palestinian state should be created through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
"This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but is an acknowledgment that it will only emerge as a result of direct negotiations between the parties," Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations Robert Wood said after the vote.
According to Wood, members of the Security Council have a special responsibility to ensure that their actions contribute to international peace and security and meet the requirements of the UN Charter. According to him, the United States has repeatedly called on the Palestinian Authority to carry out the necessary reforms. Wood emphasized that the terrorist organization Hamas currently controls Gaza, which is an integral part of the Palestinian Authority referred to in this resolution. It was for these reasons that the US voted against it.
The head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas condemned the US veto in the UN Security Council as "unfair, unethical and unjustified". According to him, it contradicts "the will of the international community, which strongly supports the full membership of Palestine" in the UN.
In turn, Israelʼs Foreign Minister Israel Katz welcomed the US veto and said that "terrorism cannot be rewarded."
How to become a member of the UN
In order for an application for UN membership to be accepted for consideration, it is necessary that it be supported by at least nine of the 15 members of the UN Security Council and none of the five permanent members of the Security Council — the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom — exercise their veto power. If this condition is met, the statement is submitted to a vote of the UN General Assembly, where it must be supported by at least two-thirds of the members.
At first, the application for admission of the Palestinian Authority to the UN was rejected in November 2011 due to the position of the Security Council. The following year, the UN, despite resistance from the US, granted the Palestinians observer status — at that time, 138 member states supported this decision, and 9 opposed it (including the US). Another 41 delegations abstained.
On April 2, 2024, the Palestinian Authority sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General asking him to reconsider its application for UN membership, which was submitted in 2011. After receiving the request, the head of the UN forwarded it to the Security Council.
The war between Israel and Hamas
Active hostilities between Israel and Hamas have been ongoing since October 7, 2023, when militants of the Islamist group launched a massive rocket attack on the southern and central regions of Israel, invaded the countryʼs territory, killed hundreds of civilians and took hostages.
On April 8, 2024, the Israel Defense Forces announced the end of the active ground invasion phase of the Gaza Strip, leaving open the possibility of a future assault on the Rafah. The IDF withdrew all ground troops from the southern part of the Gaza Strip, leaving one brigade there. Fighting in the region continued for four consecutive months.