(United Nations) The UN Security Council will decide on Thursday on the Palestinians’ request to become a full member state of the United Nations, according to several diplomatic sources, an initiative which, barring any surprises, appears doomed to failure.
Highlighting the Israeli offensive in Gaza, the Palestinians relaunched their 2011 request for membership in the UN at the beginning of April, which has little chance of success due to opposition from the United States which has a right of veto.
The vote will take place on Thursday, several diplomatic sources told AFP on Tuesday evening. This date coincides with a meeting planned for several weeks of the Council on the situation in Gaza, at which several ministers from Arab countries are expected.
The Arab group has already published a statement on Tuesday evening affirming its “unfailing support” for the Palestinian request.
“We call on all members of the Security Council to vote in favor of the draft resolution submitted by Algeria on behalf of the Arab group […]. At a minimum, we implore Council members not to obstruct this essential initiative,” they said in this text published on the X account of the Palestinian mission to the UN.
The Algerian draft resolution, published by the same source, simply “recommends” to the General Assembly to admit “the State of Palestine as a member of the United Nations”.
The admission of a State to the UN is done by decision of the General Assembly, by a two-thirds majority, but only after a positive recommendation to this effect from the Security Council.
According to the Palestinian Authority’s count, 137 of the 193 UN member states unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.
Logically, their request would have every chance of being accepted by the UN General Assembly. But this would require passing the Council stage, where the United States, opposed to this Palestinian initiative, does not hesitate to use its veto in accordance with the wishes of its Israeli ally.
In September 2011, the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas launched the procedure requesting “the accession of the State of Palestine to the UN”, which never came to fruition, in the face of American opposition. . The Palestinians were finally granted the lower status of “non-member observer state” in November 2012 in a General Assembly vote.
The United States has repeatedly repeated in recent weeks that its position “has not changed” since 2011.
They believe that the UN is not the place for the recognition of a Palestinian state, which according to them should be the result of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. They also recall that American legislation would require them to cut their funding to the UN in the event of Palestinian accession outside of such a bilateral agreement.
The closed-door meetings of the Council’s “admissions committee” did not make it possible to reach a consensus, even if “two-thirds” of the member states were in favor of joining, according to the Maltese ambassador. Vanessa Frazier, who chairs the Council in April.
Despite the slim likelihood of a positive recommendation from the Council, Israel has fiercely denounced the mere fact that the request is being considered.