Explainer: What is the significance of UNGA vote on Palestine’s full membership?

By Press TV Website Staff

In a significant development, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday overwhelmingly backed the Palestinian bid to become a full member of the world body despite American and Israeli opposition.

The 193-member UN General Assembly voted 143 to 9, with 25 abstentions, for a landmark resolution that called on the UN Security Council to grant full membership to the state of Palestine.

The vote came amid the Israeli regime’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has claimed nearly 35,000 lives, most of them children and women, since the events of October 7.

The overwhelming support for the Palestinian full membership of the United States demonstrated tremendous international support for Palestine and the growing isolation of the regime in Tel Aviv.

The UNGA resolution “determines that the State of Palestine should therefore be admitted to membership” and it "recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably.”

The vote does not give Palestine full UN membership but recognizes it as qualified to join the international organization.

It also gives Palestine more participation and some rights within the UNGA, like a seat among the UN members in the assembly hall, although it will not be granted the right to vote in the assembly.

Palestine is currently a UN non-member observer state, a status that was granted to it in 2012, and an application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the UN Security Council and then at least by two-thirds of the UN General Assembly.

The United States, a permanent member of the UNSC and the Israeli regime’s key ally, has so far blocked every attempt made by Palestine to become a full UN member by vetoing all relevant resolutions.

Most recently, on April 18, Washington vetoed a widely supported resolution at the UN Security Council that would have paved the way for the state of Palestine to gain full UN membership.

With the only vote against the move, the US proved that it was holding the world hostage by not recognizing something that had the consensus of the majority of the world's countries.

Pertinently, the United States has been accused of being the mastermind and chief architect of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza by arming the regime.

What does the UNGA resolution state?

The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution with 143 votes in favor and 9 against – which included the votes of the US and the Israeli regime. A total of 25 other states abstained from voting.

The voting came more than seven months into the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip, which has ended in failure as the regime has failed to achieve any of its war objectives.

Before the voting commenced, Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s ambassador to the UN, told the assembly that “voting ‘Yes’ is the right thing to do and I can assure you, you and your country for years to come will be proud to have stood for freedom, justice and peace in this darkest hour.”

His passionate appeal was received well by those sitting in the hall as 143 of them answered in the affirmative. The Israeli regime envoy to the UN Gilad Erdan was clearly rattled by the vote.

“We want peace, we want freedom,” Mansour told the packed assembly before the vote. “A yes vote is a vote for Palestinian existence; it is not against any state… It is an investment in peace.”

Under the resolution passed on Friday, the Palestinian mission will have the right to sit in the UN General Assembly along with other UNGA member states in alphabetical order.

Palestinian diplomats will also have the right to put forward proposals and amendments and can be elected to chairs in the full chamber or on various UN committees.

However, the resolution makes it clear that the state of Palestine “in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the general assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs.”

Palestine’s bid to become a full UN member first needs to be approved by the 15-member UN Security Council and after that by the UN General Assembly. However, the US veto looms ominously over it.

The Palestinian mission at the UN is represented by the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited power in the occupied West Bank. In Gaza, Hamas holds both the power and mandate to rule.

Importantly, the UN General Assembly resolution was diluted in a 1990 US law that bans any of UN organs “which accord the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states”.

What are the reactions to the UNGA vote?

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas welcomed the adoption of the UNGA resolution, stressing that it enhances the rights and privileges of the State of Palestine at the world body.

The Gaza-based resistance movement, which surprised the world with its Al-Aqsa Storm Operation on October 7, said the overwhelming support for the resolution is an affirmation of support for Palestine.

“We consider this resolution an acknowledgment of the necessity for our Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights and a confirmation of the international support for our people, in the face of the American will supporting the genocide being waged against them," the statement noted.

Hamas further called upon “the free countries of the world to intensify their efforts and provide all means of support and backing for Palestinian people, who long for freedom and their right to self-determination.”

The Palestinian resistance group also urged the UN Security Council to fulfill its responsibilities and make a decision to recognize the State of Palestine as a full member of the world body.

It also called upon the UNSC to “stop the massacre committed by the fascist occupation in the Gaza Strip, which violates all the laws and treaties upon which the United Nations Charter was founded.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also praised the resolution, saying it showed the world stands with the rights and freedom of the Palestinian people, and against the Israeli regime's occupation.

Iran's envoy to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said Tehran welcomes the move, describing it as a “modest yet crucial step” in fulfilling the international community's obligations to Palestine.

“The admission of Palestine as a full member of the UN is a first step and a pivotal moment in addressing the historical injustices endured by the Palestinian people," Iravani said in an address to the UNGA.

He reiterated Palestine's commitment to peace and its ability to fulfill obligations under the UN Charter, adding that it deserves full membership in the United Nations.

On the other hand, he added, the Israeli regime's actions disqualify and render it ineligible as a UN member, reiterating the call to expel the regime from the world body.

Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said the vote was being held at a time when the city of Rafah in southern Gaza is reeling under Israeli military’s aggression.

“As we speak, 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah wonder if they will survive the day and wonder where to go next. There is nowhere left to go,” Mansour said.

“I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, often in tragic circumstances, but none comparable to the ones my people endured today … never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, a historic one.”

What are the main obstacles in Palestine's UN path?

During the voting by the 193-member UNGA on Friday, out of 177 active votes, 143, or over 80 percent, were in favor which proves that the State of Palestine enjoys world support.

In contrast, only nine votes, or 5 percent, were against, and in addition to the US and Israeli regime, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea – all of them considered vassal states of the Western hegemony – voted against it.

The remaining 25 abstaining states are mostly close American allies from Europe, but their passivity is unlikely to affect the final outcome of the recognition of Palestine at the world body.

The only obstacle on the Palestinian road to full UN membership remains the US, which as a permanent member of the UNSC has the right of veto and during the last five decades has used it about 60 times in favor of the Israeli regime and against Palestine.

Hours after the voting concluded, White House spokesman John Kirby defended the US decision to oppose the resolution, saying such a measure should not be implemented through a UN resolution.

Many saw it as a move to pacify the Israeli regime after the Biden administration reportedly halted a shipment of bombs to the regime over its plans to attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk