UNITED NATIONS – Israel has vowed to work with the United States to block abid by the Palestinians for full membership in the United Nations, a movethat would confer international recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said Wednesday thathe will submit a request next month to the Security Council for full UNmembership, according to the official Wafa Palestinian news agency.
“We are preparing to stop the initiative,” said Israel’s UN ambassadorDanny Danon in a statement. “The Palestinians pay terrorists and encourageviolence yet seek to become a member state of the United Nations.”
Danon accused Palestinian leaders of engaging in “destructive policies thathave encouraged recent terror attacks” and said he was gearing up to blockthe initiative “in cooperation with the United States delegation.”
Any move by the Palestinians to seek full UN membership will face a vetofrom the United States at the Security Council, diplomats said.
Under UN rules the General Assembly must approve any request to become a UNmember-state, but it must first be submitted to the Security Council.
To win the council’s approval, the Palestinians would have to secure ninevotes from the 15 members and no veto from any of the five permanentmembers: Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States.
The Palestinian foreign minister said he plans to travel to New York nextmonth to personally submit the request. It remains unclear whether theapplication would quickly be put to a vote at the Security Council.
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UN diplomats said the Palestinian move to seek full UN membership comes asSouth Africa and Indonesia, two strong supporters of the Palestinians, areset to take their seats as non-permanent Security Council members.
The council is tentatively scheduled to hold its monthly meeting on theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict on January 22.
The Palestinians were granted the status of UN non-member observer state in2012, a decision taken by the General Assembly where no member-state holdsveto power.
The United States voted against that resolution, in line with itslong-standing view that there should be no international recognition forthe Palestinians until progress is made in peace efforts with Israel.
That view has hardened under President Donald Trump’s administration, whichhas cut off aid to the Palestinians and recognized Jerusalem as Israel’scapital, overriding Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem.
Asked for a comment, the US mission to the United Nations said it wasunable to respond due to the US government shutdown.
The Trump administration is preparing to roll out, possibly in early 2019,its much-awaited peace proposals for the Middle East — although Israelielections scheduled for April could once again delay that plan.
About 137 countries out the UN’s 193 member-states recognize some form ofPalestinian statehood. -APP/AFP
