US vetoes Palestinian request for full UN membership

The U.S. vetoed a Palestinian bid to be recognized as a member state of the United Nations during a Security Council vote Thursday evening.

The final vote on Monday had 12 members of the Security Council vote in favor of the resolution, two abstentions — the U.K. and Switzerland — and the U.S. with the lone veto, effectively killing the measure. 

Before the vote, Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson for the State Department, described as premature an effort by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to gain member status at the U.N.

He said there was not unanimity among the Security Council’s 15 members that the Palestinian Authority had met the criteria for membership, with unresolved questions over the governance of the Gaza Strip, where Israel is in a war to defeat and eliminate the controlling power, Hamas.

“And for that reason, the United States is voting no on this proposed Security Council resolution,” Patel said.

For the Palestinian bid to be successful it would have had to secure nine votes among the Security Council’s 15-member body, and not have any of the five permanent members exercise their veto. 

But the vote tally signaled that the majority of members were putting their support behind the Palestinian measure, despite the U.S. push to promote negotiations as the only pathway for recognition of a Palestinian state. 

If the U.S. had not exercised its veto, a second vote would be taken by the General Assembly to admit the Palestinian Authority as a voting-member under the title of “State of Palestine.”

The PA launched a bid for statehood recognition at the U.N. earlier this month as part of efforts to legitimize its leadership amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and escalating unrest in the West Bank, with surging violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

The U.S. is working on a plan to “revitalize” and “reform” the Palestinian Authority and prepare it for governance of the Gaza Strip. It is part of a larger plan to have Gulf and Arab partners participate in stabilizing Gaza in the aftermath of Israel’s war and establish open ties with Israel.

“We do not think that actions in New York, even if they are the most well-intentioned, are the best appropriate path,” Patel said.

“It remains our 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 United States and other partners who share this goal.”

“It remains our 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 United States and other partners who share this goal.”

In 2012, the Palestinian Authority secured the status of “non-member observer state” at the U.N., in the face of U.S., Israeli and other countries objecting, arguing that the establishment of a Palestinian state could only occur between direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. 

Ziad Abu Amr, special representative of the Palestinian president, said in remarks that recognizing the State of Palestine would not be a substitute “for serious negotiations that are time-bound to implement the two-state solution,” the Associated Press reported. 

Update: 6:36 p.m.