US vetoes Palestine's attempt at full UN Security ...

US vetoes Palestine's attempt at full UN Security Council membership

Telegraph India - The US blocked the UN Security Council on Thursday from moving forward on a Palestinian bid to be recognised as a full member state at the UN, quashing an effort by Palestinian allies to get the world body to back the effort.

The vote was 12 in favour of the resolution and one — the US — opposed, with abstentions from Britain and Switzerland.

The Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, had described the bid for full-member status as an effort “to take our rightful place among the community of nations”.

After the vote, Mansour, visibly upset, delivered a passionate address asserting the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

“Our right to self-determination is a natural right — a historical right — to live in our homeland Palestine as an independent state that is free and that is sovereign,” he said.

Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said after the vote: “The shameful proposal was rejected. Terrorism will not be rewarded.”

The Security Council has consistently called for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In Washington, a spokesperson for the state department, Vedant Patel, said the new resolution was dead on arrival.

“It remains the US view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the US and other partners,” Patel said on Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, during a high-profile council meeting to address the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, the US, a staunch ally of Israel’s, wielded that veto.

The resolution had asked the Security Council to recommend to the UN General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the UN”, diplomats said.