UN General Assembly to vote on resolution for Palestine membership

A state can only gain full membership with backing from the Security Council and two-thirds majority in the General Assembly

Palestine has held permanent observer status at the UN since 2012, enabling it to engage in proceedings without being able to vote. AFP

The UN General Assembly is set to vote on a draft resolution on Friday that would recognise Palestine as eligible for full membership.

The text says the General Assembly “determines that the state of Palestine is, in its judgment, a peace-loving state within the meaning of Article 4 of the Charter, is able and willing to carry out the obligations of the Charter and should therefore be admitted to membership in the United Nations”.

The draft resolution, put forward by the UAE in its capacity as the Arab Group's chair for May, seeks to grant Palestine the rights and privileges to take part fully and effectively in General Assembly sessions and other UN conferences, “on equal footing with member states”.

According to UN regulations, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and can only gain full membership with backing from the Security Council and a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly.

Palestine has held permanent observer status at the UN since 2012, allowing it to engage in proceedings without being able to vote.

A copy of the draft resolution, seen by The National, expresses “deep regret and concern” over the April 18 US veto of a Security Council proposal recommending the admission of the state of Palestine to full membership in the UN.

Twelve Security Council members voted in favour of granting Palestine full UN member status, while the UK and Switzerland abstained.

France, Japan, South Korea and Slovenia backed the resolution despite none of them individually recognising a Palestinian state.

But unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly and the resolution is expected to be approved by over 140 states, according to an Arab diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Slovenia's UN representative Samuel Zbogar told reporters he anticipates greater European support for the measure this time around compared to previous times.

Palestine's UN ambassador optimistic about full membership – video

By voting in favour of the text, the 193 member states would recommend that the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”.

The Palestinian UN mission in New York said in a letter to UN member states that adoption of the draft text backing full membership at the world body would be an investment in preserving the long-sought-for two-state solution.

It said it would "constitute a clear reaffirmation of support at this very critical moment for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State."

According to a legislation by US Congress, Washington is prohibited from financing any UN agency that supports full membership for groups lacking the “internationally recognised attributes” of statehood.

"What we're concerned about is the precedent it sets. It's clearly outlined in the UN Charter, the procedure, the process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and any kind of a process that goes around that, to us is very concerning," Robert Wood, US deputy ambassador to the UN, told reporters in New York.

"What they [Palestinians] should be doing is sitting down with Israel at the appropriate point, discussing these issues, because we believe, as many other states do, that for this Palestinian membership of the UN to happen, it needs to be the result of the product of bilateral negotiations," he added.

Israel's UN ambassador Gilad Erdan slammed the draft General Assembly resolution, saying granting Palestine the status and rights of a state would go against the UN Charter.

“If it is approved, I expect the United States to completely stop funding the UN and its institutions, in accordance with American law,” said Mr Erdan.

He said that resolution's adoption by the General Assembly would not change anything in Gaza.

The measure also adds a provision in the annex on the issue of voting, stating categorically that in its capacity as an observer State, Palestine "does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs."

The push for Palestine's full membership in the world body comes seven months into a war between Israel and militant group Hamas.

Two hundred days of Israel Gaza war – in pictures

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