U.S. votes against Palestinian request for full UN membership at Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Thursday voted against a Palestinian request for full UN membership at the Security Council.

The 15-member council voted on a draft resolution recommending to the 193-member UN General Assembly that "the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations."

The draft resolution received 12 votes in favor, two abstentions and one vote against.

A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass. The United States used its veto power after the draft secured 12 votes in favor.

China, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, Russia, South Korea, Mozambique, Malta, Japan, Guyana, France, Ecuador and Algeria voted in favor, passing the threshold of nine required. Britain and Switzerland abstained on the resolution.

Before the vote, Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Vedant Patel said the United States insists "that premature actions in New York...will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people."

Palestinian membership "needs to be the outcome of the negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians," said U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Robert Wood.

Ziad Abu Amr, the special representative of the Palestinian president, addressed the Security Council before the vote, saying that adopting the resolution would provide the Palestinian people with hope for "a decent life within an independent state."

Ambassador Amar Bendjama from Algeria, who introduced the draft, said that failure to act is a serious and unforgivable mistake and a license for continuing injustice and impunity.

After the United States vetoed the draft, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said this marked the fifth time the United States has vetoed a council resolution since the start of the current hostilities in Gaza.

The United States "once again demonstrated what they really think of the Palestinians," he said. "For Washington, they do not deserve to have their own State. They are only a barrier on the path towards realizing the interests of Israel."

He said at present, an absolute majority of the global community supports Palestine's application to become a full member of the UN.

"Today's use of the veto by the U.S. delegation is a hopeless attempt to stop the inevitable course of history. The results of the vote, where Washington was practically in complete isolation, speak for themselves," he said.

The Palestinian mission to the UN initially requested full member-state status at the UN in 2011. The first attempt failed because the mission did not receive the necessary minimum support of nine out of the 15 members of the Security Council.

Following their initial setback, the Palestinians approached the UN General Assembly, where, in November 2012, they successfully upgraded their status from "UN observer" to "non-member observer state" by securing more than a two-thirds majority vote. This elevation in status enabled the Palestinian territories to join various UN and international organizations, such as the International Criminal Court.

Earlier this month, the UN Committee on the Admission of New Members evaluated Palestine's renewed request for full member-state status at the UN. The 140 countries that recognize Palestine as an independent state supported this revival of their membership bid in early April.

Recent escalations in the Middle East make it even more critical to support efforts towards lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian State, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council Thursday morning.

"Failure to make progress towards a two-state solution will only increase volatility and risk for hundreds of millions of people across the region, who will continue to live under the constant threat of violence," the top UN official told the Security Council's quarterly open debate on "the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question."

With the Middle East "on a precipice," he appealed for maximum restraint, warning against the far-reaching consequences.

Israel gained full UN membership in 1949.

Since the early 1990s, when Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed the Oslo Accords, initiating a peace process targeting a two-state solution, little progress has been made toward Palestinian statehood.