It's Not Over Yet for Aspiring 194th UN Member
Procedural rules at UN mean debate over Palestine's attempt at recognition of statehood will continue in General Assembly.
The effort to transform the Palestine Authority into the State of Palestine recognized as an independent country within the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, is not over yet. The Big Day is Friday, May 10th.
Veto Confusion
The
released a summary of the May 1, 2024 meeting of the General Assembly about the US veto of Palestine’s application for full membership. In April 2022, the General Assembly adopted a procedure referred as the “veto initiative” to hold a formal meeting within 10 business days of the cast Security Council veto. The purpose: to talk about why the United States vetoed Palestine’s membership application.
The General Assembly can ask the Security Council to reconsider the vote and recommend that the permanent five members meet with one another in an effort to negotiate their differences. If the General Assembly accepts the proposition that “the State of Palestine…is a peace-loving State” and meets the membership criteria in Article 4 of the UN Charter, then it can take some limited action. Besides resolving to request the application be formally reconsidered, the General Assembly can vote rights to Palestine as a non-member Observer State. It was after Palestine’s membership application was first considered (and vetoed), that the General Assembly changed its status to the current “non-member Observer State” by a resolution adopted on November 29, 2012.
Don’t You Like Palestine?
At this meeting, the General Assembly is likely to set the order of speakers with the United States first to address the reason it exercised the veto. The Palestine delegate’s position is that Israel was admitted to the UN when it was violating the Charter, attempting to cast aspersions on the claims of the United States in support of its veto. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan repeated what seems obvious to so many and so few at the same time: “The UN is the primary obstacle to resolving the conflict in Gaza and the main impediment to peace.”
UN Booby Prizes
The Security Council Report1 suggests that benefits Palestine might get handed by a disgruntled General Assembly could include the right to submit proposals, suggest amendments, and participate in raising and responding to procedural moves in the same manner as the 193 member states of the UN.
Israeli Security over Palestinian Statehood
The only obstacle to Palestine becoming a member State of the UN that will demand a resolution to its territorial demands of Israel is if the US no longer vetoes the membership application. The US has been a steadfast ally, but their resolve is weakening. President Biden is worried that supporting Israel against rapists and murderers who are committed to doing so again will hurt his re-election chances. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pushing this inane plan for Israel to consent to a permanent ceasefire in exchange for diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
Saudi recognition of Israel is a shiny bauble. Blinken must suppose that the Israeli government is non compos mentis. There is no rational basis for any agreement to any ceasefire without something that moves Israel closer to its war aims. It is not unimportant that Northern Israel is evacuated while Hezbollah continues firing rockets and in the south the kibbutzim are trying to recover from Hamas still.
As I conclude this I want to acknowledge that Hamas just fired on the Keren Shalom Crossing where humanitarian aid is passed through from Israel to Gaza.
The three young IDF soldiers - including 2 teenagers - were delivering aid to Gaza when they were murdered by a Hamas rocket. How will the world react?
May 2024 Monthly Forecast, Security Council Report.