US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood votes against a resolution allowing Palestinian UN membership at United Nations headquarters in New York, on April 18, 2024, during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. The United States vetoed a Security Council measure on a Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership. The draft resolution, which was introduced by Algeria and ārecommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations,ā received 12 votes in favor, two abstentions and one against. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
UNITED NATIONS, United States ā The United States on Thursday spoiled a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership, vetoing a Security Council measure despite growing international distress over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The move by Israelās key ally had been expected ahead of the vote, taking place more than six months into Israelās military offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory, in retaliation for the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
Twelve countries voted in favor of the draft resolution recommending full Palestinian membership. Britain and Switzerland abstained.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbasās office called the US veto āa blatant aggressionā and āan encouragement to the pursuit of the genocidal war against our peopleā¦ which pushes the region ever further to the edge of the abyss.ā
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The draft resolution called for recommending to the General Assembly āthat the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nationsā in place of its current ānon-member observer stateā status, which it has held since 2012.
Ahead of the vote, special Palestinian Authority envoy Ziad Abu Amr told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that āgranting Palestine full membership at the United Nations will lift some of the historic injustice that succeeding Palestinian generations have been subjected to.ā
Ambassador Amar Bendjama from Algeria, which introduced the draft, said: āFailure to act is a serious unforgivable mistake. Failure to wake up today is a license for continuing injustice and impunity.
āFailure to do so is everlasting shame,ā he added.
Two-state solution
Any request to become a UN member state must first earn a recommendation from the UNSC ā meaning at least nine positive votes out of 15, and no vetoes ā followed by endorsement by two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.
The United States, Israelās main ally, has not hesitated in the past to use its veto to protect Israel, and did not hide its lack of enthusiasm for Palestinian UN membership in the weeks leading up to the vote, as the Palestinians and other Arab states implored the Council to recommend full membership.
Washington has said its position is unchanged: that the UN is not the venue for recognition of a Palestinian state, which must be the result of a peace deal with Israel.
āThe United States continues to strongly support the two-state solution,ā US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said after the vote Thursday.
āThis vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgement that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties.ā
Israelās UN envoy Gilad Erdan slammed the fact that the UNSC was even reviewing the matter, calling it āimmoral.ā
Israelās government opposes a two-state solution, the outcome supported by most of the international community.
The majority of the UNās 193 member states (137, according to a Palestinian count) have meanwhile unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state.
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The last veto of a resolution for UN membership dates back to 1976, when the United States blocked Vietnamās entry.
The measureās failure represented a āsad day,ā Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong said, calling the US veto āmost disappointing.ā
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres painted a dark picture of the situation in the Middle East, saying the region was āon a precipice.ā
āRecent days have seen a perilous escalation ā in words and deeds,ā Guterres told a high-level Security Council meeting, referencing Iranās weekend missile and drone attack, which came in the wake of a strike on its consulate in Damascus widely blamed on Israel.
āOne miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable ā a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved,ā he said.
The UN chief also said Israelās military offensive in Gaza had created a āhumanitarian hellscapeā for civilians trapped there, calling on Israel to allow more aid into the territory.
At least 33,970 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.
āIt is high time to end the bloody cycle of retaliation,ā Guterres said.