United Nations, April 18 (RHC)-- The United States has predictably cast its veto against a bid by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for Palestine to be recognized as a full member of the United Nations.
The U.S., the Israeli regime’s biggest ally, blocked a relevant draft resolution that had been put to vote at the 15-member UN Security Council on Thursday. Britain and Switzerland abstained, while the remaining 12 Council members voted yes.
"…The draft resolution has not been adopted owing to the negative vote of a permanent member of the Council,” said Vanessa Frazier, permanent representative of Malta, the Council’s rotating president.
Palestine is currently a non-member observer state. An application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the UN General Assembly.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the U.S. “once again demonstrated what they really think of the Palestinians.” “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.
Citing “unclassified U.S. State Department cables,” The Intercept, an online American news organization, reported on Wednesday that Washington was secretly pushing members of the Council into rejecting Palestine’s bid.
“We…urge you not to support any potential Security Council resolution recommending the admission of ‘Palestine’ as a UN member state, should such a resolution be presented to the Security Council for a decision in the coming days and weeks,” one cable read.
The countries being railroaded into rejecting the statehood included Malta, the report said, adding that Ecuador, in particular, was being asked to lobby Malta and other nations, including France, to oppose UN recognition.
But the final outcome showed that the Biden administration largely failed in its effort, with U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood being the lone envoy to raise his hand in opposition to the resolution -- what has been called a symbolic demonstration of Washington’s international isolation on the matter.
France, Japan, South Korea and Slovenia all voted in favor of the resolution submitted by Algeria, even though none of them had individually recognized a Palestinian state.
According to reports from Washington, there was speculation that those countries voted the way they did because they knew there wouldn’t be any consequences for doing so, given the pledged veto of the United States.
Sierra Leone, Russia, Mozambique, Malta, Guyana, Ecuador, China and Algeria also voted in favor of the resolution, but have each already recognized a Palestinian state. At least nine countries of the 15-member body needed to support the measure in order to force a U.S. veto.
The U.S. has long opposed Palestinian efforts to unilaterally secure statehood status at the UN, arguing that the goal should be achieved through direct negotiations with Israel -- depite the fact that Tel Aviv has publicly stated that it is strongly opposed to a Palestinian state.
Washington’s veto came amid the Israeli regime’s October 7th-present genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has increased sympathy towards Palestinians and international calls for the recognition of the State of Palestine.
Zhang Jun, the representative of China at the United Nations, said during the Thursday vote that the decades-long dream of the Palestinian people had been quashed at a time when the admission of Palestine as a full member of the UN was more urgent than ever before.
