A United Nations committee is unable to approve a Palestinian application for full membership

NEW YORK – A report seen by Reuters of a UN Security Council committee examining the Palestinian Authority’s application for full UN membership said the committee “was unable to make a unanimous recommendation” on whether the application met the criteria.

Diplomats said the Palestinian Authority is still expected to urge the 15-member Security Council to vote, perhaps this week, on a draft resolution recommending that it become a full member of the international body.

Obtaining membership will represent effective recognition of the Palestinian state.

The Palestinians currently have the status of a non-member observer state after the 193-member United Nations General Assembly recognized Palestine in 2012.

But obtaining full membership in the United Nations requires the approval of the Security Council, which the United States, an ally of Israel, can block, and then the approval of at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.

The United States said this month that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and not at the United Nations.

The UN Security Council has long supported the establishment of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. The Palestinians want to establish their state on lands in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, all of which Israel occupied in the 1967 war.

Little progress has been made towards establishing a Palestinian state since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the early 1990s.

The Palestinian efforts to obtain full membership in the United Nations come six months after the outbreak of war between Israel and the fighters of the Palestinian faction movement in Gaza, and while Israel is working to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The Security Council Committee on Admission of New Members, composed of all Council members, agreed to issue its report on Tuesday after meeting twice last week to discuss the Palestinian request.

“With regard to the question of whether the application meets all membership criteria… the committee was unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council,” the report stated, adding that “divergent views were expressed.”

Source: Reuters