2LT International News

NEW YORK, New York – Israel skilfully deflected the 24-hours news cycle in the early hours of Friday morning by launching a limited, symbolic attack on Iran, thus diverting attention from Thursday night’s rejection of the Palestinians’ rejection of their quest for statehood.

With two abstentions, all twelve remaining members of the UN Security Council voted unanimously to support the resolution, which would have sent the vote to the General Assembly, where it would have likely passed.

“In a vote of 12 in favor to one against, with two abstentions, the Council did not adopt a draft resolution that would have recommended the General Assembly to hold a vote with the broader UN membership to allow Palestine to join as a full UN Member State,” a United Nations statement issued Thursday night said.

The two countries to abstain were, unsurprisingly Britain, but also Switzerland for reasons that were unclear.

The draft resolution was among the shortest in the Council’s history: “The Security Council, having examined the application of the State of Palestine for admission to the United Nations (S/2011/592), recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”

For a draft resolution to pass, the Council must have at least nine members in favour and none of its permanent members, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, or the United States, exercising their veto power.

In other words, the only roadblock for the Palestinians to statehood is the United States. Indeed, the U.S. has already blocked three UN Security Council resolutions calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, through its veto power.

We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas, a terrorist organization, is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the State envisioned in this resolution, United States Ambassador to the UN Robert A. Wood said in casting his vote.

“It is for these reasons that the U.S. voted no, he said.

This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties, Wood added.

While support for the Palestinians was almost universal around the globe, only a few countries condemned the U.S. move. “Today’s use of the veto by the U.S. delegation is a hopeless attempt to stop the inevitable course of history. The results of the vote, where Washington was practically in complete isolation, speak for themselves,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Thursday night, noting Thursday’s use of its veto was the fifth time it had done so since the start of the current hostilities in Gaza.

Palestine had submitted a request to the Secretary-General on 2 April, asking that a 2011 request to become a UN Member State be reconsidered.

In 2011, the Security Council considered the request but did not agree to forward the request to the UN General Assembly..

Earlier this month, the Security Council sent the latest request to its Committee on the Admission of Member States, which met on 8 and 11 April to discuss the matter.

Palestine has been a Permanent Observer at the UN since 2012, before which it was an observer in the UN General Assembly.

“The shameful proposal was rejected. Terrorism will not be rewarded,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in praising the U.S. for its support for the Jewish state.

Largely unknown is the fact that current U.S. legislation requires the White House to either veto any such UN resolution or cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority.

“In last month’s $1.2 trillion US congressional funding bill, a clause was made to say that the PA would not be able to receive any money from this fund if they obtain full UN membership,” Maya Ungar, UN analyst at the International Crisis Group, told The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi Thursday.

The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, said Thursday night

We will not stop in our effort. The State of Palestine is inevitable. It is real. Perhaps they see it as far away, but we see it as near, and we are the faithful, he said.

Photo: United States Ambassador to the UN Robert A. Wood voting against the draft resolution, the only person to do so. Credit: Manual Elias | UN).