The U.N. General Assembly on May 10 overwhelmingly backed a bid for the Palestinian territories to become a full U.N. member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the U.N. Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.”
The 193-member General Assembly convened in New York City on May 10 for an emergency special session on the Gaza crisis and passed a resolution that upgraded the Palestinian territories’ status at the United Nations as an observer state without offering it full membership.
The resolution was adopted with 143 votes in favor, nine against—including the United States, Israel, Argentina, Czechia, and Hungary—and 25 countries, including the UK, abstaining.
The Palestinian push for full U.N. membership comes seven months into war in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, and as Israel continues to expand settlements in the Palestinian Authority-governed West Bank, which the U.N. considers to be illegal.
“Against all odds, we survived. Our flag flies high and proud in Palestine, across the globe, and on the campus of Columbia University.
“A ‘Yes’ vote is a vote for Palestinian existence; it is not against any state, but it is against attempts to deprive us of our State. Voting yes is the right thing to do.”
“Today, you have a choice between weakness and fighting terror.”
“This day will go down in infamy,” Mr. Erdan said.
While accusing the assembly of shredding the U.N. Charter, he used a small shredder to destroy a copy while at the lectern.
2-State Solution
U.S. Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs to the U.N. Robert Wood told the General Assembly after the vote that the United States’ “no” vote did not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood.“It remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward statehood and U.N. membership for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the support of the United States and other partners,” he said.
“There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish State. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and dignity in a state of their own.”
Mr. Wood said unilateral measures at the U.N. and on the ground, including this resolution, will not advance a two-state solution, “so the United States voted ‘no.’”
“The United States will continue to oppose measures that undermine the prospect of a two-state solution,” he said.
The U.N. has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip—all territory captured by Israel in its 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
Mr. Erdan said on May 6 that if the General Assembly adopted the resolution, he expected Washington to cut funding to the U.N. and its institutions.
Under U.S. law, Washington cannot fund any U.N. organization that grants full membership to any group that does not have the “internationally recognized attributes” of statehood. The United States cut funding in 2011 for the U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO, after it accepted Palestinian membership.
“We are abstaining from this resolution because we believe the first step toward achieving this goal is resolving the immediate crisis in Gaza,” she said, noting that the fastest way to end the conflict is “to secure a deal which gets the hostages out and allows for a pause in the fighting in Gaza.”
The UK ambassador also noted that her country would not support a major operation in Rafah unless there is a “very clear plan” for protecting civilians as well as their access to food, water, and medical care.
Both the Palestinian Authority and Israel must act to achieve a two-state solution, according to Ms. Woodward.
The UK has offered the Palestinian Authority support in implementing the reforms needed to achieve this goal, she said. At the same time, Israel must release frozen funds, halt settlement expansion, and hold to account those responsible for extremist settler violence, she said.
When speaking before the vote, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia criticized the United States for blocking Palestinian efforts to obtain full U.N. membership and expressed Russia’s support for the Palestinian bid to join the U.N.
Some Countries to Recognize Palestinian State
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in March that Spain and Ireland, along with Slovenia and Malta, had agreed to take the first steps toward recognition of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, seeing a two-state solution as essential for lasting peace.
“The EU recalls its longstanding commitment to a just and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, based on the two-state solution, with the state of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign, and viable state of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security and mutual recognition, and with Jerusalem serving as the future capital of both states,” he said in the statement.
