2024-05-11 08:36:40
The UN General Assembly voted today in support and recognized the Palestinians as meeting the conditions for future full membership in the world organization, recommending the Security Council to “review the matter positively”, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
The agency noted that the vote in the 193-member General Assembly became a global poll on support for a Palestinian bid for full UN membership – a step that would effectively recognize the creation of the State of Palestine – after the US vetoed it in the Security Council last month.
The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution with 143 votes in favor and 9 votes against, with the US and Israel among them, and 25 member states abstaining. It does not give the Palestinians full membership in the United Nations, but merely recognizes their right to join the organization.
The General Assembly resolution “determines that the State of Palestine … should be admitted as a member” and “recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter positively”.
The Palestinian bid for full UN membership comes seven months after the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and comes as Israel expands its settler settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the UN considers illegal.
“We want peace, we want freedom,” Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said before the vote in the UN General Assembly.
“A yes vote is a vote for the existence of Palestine, it is not against any state. … It is an investment in peace,” he added.
“Voting yes is the right decision,” Mansour concluded to applause.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the General Assembly’s decision to raise the status of the Palestinians at the United Nations “an award to Hamas,” Reuters reported, citing a statement from the ministry.
Nine out of a total of 27 EU member states recognize the State of Palestine. Eight of them did so before joining the bloc – even after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared Palestine an independent state on November 15, 1988. These are Malta, Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (until 1993 Czechoslovakia), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. They were followed in 2014 by Sweden, which became the first country to recognize Palestine after joining the EU.