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The US on Wednesday was forced to defend its recent Security Council veto of Palestine’s bid for full UN membership, in a contentious debate highlighting how Washington's position remains largely at odds with the international consensus.
The discussion at the UN General Assembly coincided with a trip US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made to Israel, where he pushed for a ceasefire that would bring a pause to nearly seven months of bloodshed in the Gaza Strip.
The General Assembly convened Wednesday's special session to discuss the April 18 US veto, which came despite broad international support for Palestine to join the world body. Currently, Palestine has only observer status.
Twelve of the Security Council's 15 supported the Algeria-drafted resolution, while Britain and Switzerland abstained.
The UAE’s ambassador to the UN, Mohamed Abushahab, who was speaking on behalf of the Arab Group of nations, noted that Israel was granted full UN membership 75 years ago while Palestine’s attempts to join have been repeatedly thwarted.
“The Palestinian people are still deprived of their right to self determination and the state of Palestine is still denied its legitimate right to full membership,” Mr Abushahab said.
“These double standards undermine the UN’s credibility, and contradict its founding principles of justice and equality.”
Robert Wood, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, reiterated to the General Assembly the position of President Joe Biden's administration, which is that Palestinian membership in the world body should be tied to a comprehensive peace agreement that would “permanently resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
Riyad Mansour optimistic about Palestine becoming full member of UN - video
“Since the attacks of October 7, President Biden has been clear that sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution, with Israel’s security guaranteed,” Mr Wood said.
“There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and with dignity in a state of their own.”
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s ambassador to the UN, said he would take his request for full membership for a vote by the General Assembly on May 10.
General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, but Mr Mansour hopes to underscore international support for the Palestinian bid, which he said is backed by 140 countries.
The Palestinian envoy highlighted the plight of people in Gaza, where about 35,000 people have been killed since Israel launched its war on the enclave after the Hamas-led attacks of October 7 that killed about 1,200 people.
“Israel is still trying to push the Palestinian people out of geography and out of history, its occupation descending to deeper levels of depravity,” Mr Mansour said.
“The admission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations is an unequivocal signal that Palestinian self- determination and statehood are not subject to the whims and will of the extremists in Israel. Our admission to the UN is long overdue.”
Israel's UN ambassador Gilad Erdan said the UN had become a “sick joke” and accused his colleagues of “moral bankruptcy” for focusing on Gaza while all but ignoring any number of conflicts happening elsewhere.
“The only thing that the UN cares about is bashing the Jewish state,” Mr Erdan said.
“You don't really care about the Palestinians. You don't care about the Palestinians in Lebanon that are living under a real apartheid regime, or for Palestinians in Syria displaced or murdered by the Assad regime.”
The debate took place as Mr Blinken told Israeli leadership that the US is determined to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Even in these very difficult times we are determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home – and to get it now,” Mr Blinken said, as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.
“And the only reason that that wouldn't be achieved is because of Hamas.”
Two hundred days of Israel Gaza war – in pictures
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Palestinians move with their belongings on a road lined with destroyed buildings, in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 22. AFP -
An infant saved from the womb of her mother Sabreen Al Sheikh, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shokri and her daughter Malak, lies in an incubator at Al Emirati hospital in Rafah, on April 21. Reuters -
A man rides a bicycle, on April 2, past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen non-profit, including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli air strike. Reuters -
A woman at the damaged Al Shifa Hospital, on April 1, after Israeli forces withdrew from the medical complex following a two-week siege. Reuters -
The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National -
Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters -
A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters -
Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, reunite with loved ones at Sheba Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in February. Reuters -
Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA -
Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images -
Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo -
Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo -
The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP -
A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP -
The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo -
A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP -
Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP -
Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP -
November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP -
Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo -
Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo -
An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo -
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo
