On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring Palestine eligible for full membership in the United Nations and recommends that the Security Council reconsider this issue positively.
A total of 143 countries voted in favor, 25 abstained and 9 rejected the resolution.
The resolution establishes the eligibility of the State of Palestine for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter and emphasizes the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to establish an independent State of Palestine.
The resolution affirms the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force and demands the preservation of the territorial integrity of all the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
The Assembly resolution requests UN Secretary-General António Guterres to take the necessary measures to implement the resolution.
The General Assembly resolution would grant Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024, such as a seat with UN member states in the Assembly Hall, but without the right to vote on it.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz called the UN General Assembly’s decision to amend the Palestinians’ status in the organization a “prize for Hamas,” according to a statement issued by his office on Friday.
“The absurd resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly highlights the structural bias of the UN and the reasons why the organization, under the leadership of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has become an irrelevant institution,” Katz said.
Nate Evans, spokesman for the US mission to the UN, said his country would veto it again as it last did on April 18.
“If the General Assembly adopts this resolution and refers Palestine’s membership application back to the Security Council, we expect an outcome similar to what happened in April,” Evans said before the vote.
Palestine and the Vatican are the only non-member states with observer status at the international organization.
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