US vetoes Palestinian request for full UN membership
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 US, 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 US “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 US 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.
Washington’s veto came amid the Israeli regime’s October 7-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.
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