Six months into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a different battle is playing out at the United Nations. The Palestinians have formally sought that an application moved by them in 2011 to become a UN member, be reconsidered by the Security Council. Palestine is currently a non-member observer state.
“It was sent to the Security Council through the Secretary-General of the UN. It was a historic moment then and now, that historic moment has been revived again. We sincerely hope after 12 years since we changed our status to an observer state, that the Security Council will elevate itself to implementing the global consensus on the two-state solution by admitting the state of Palestine for full membership,” says Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador To UN.
So what happens next?
According to the rules, any application for a full membership has to be first assessed by the 15-member Security Council. The members can shelve it or put it for a vote. The application goes through only if at least nine members back it and it isn’t vetoed by permanent members, the US, Russia, China, France, and the UK.
Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s ambassador to the UN, is the UNSC president for April and she wants the committee to decide this month. “The committee has to deliberate within the month of April, and we all recognise that any member of the council may decide to present a resolution for membership to be voted at any time, as is the procedure of the council,” she says.
Earlier this year, amid calls for a two-state solution backed by the United States, the Israeli parliament voted overwhelmingly to back Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state
Netanyahu has insisted that once Hamas is defeated, Israel must have security control over Gaza to ensure no security threat emanates from there.
(With inputs from Reuters)
