Achi news desk-
The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Thursday that would have allowed Palestine to be admitted as a full member of the international body and effectively recognized its statehood.
The Biden administration said that while it supports a Palestinian state, it could only be allowed as part of broad peace talks with Israel.
“The view of the United States remains that the fastest path to 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,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters earlier. in the day.
The 15-member council voted on a draft resolution that would have recommended to the 193-member United Nations General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be accepted as a member of the United Nations.”
Twelve members voted in favor, two abstained and the United States vetoed. It needed at least nine votes to pass and no veto from the five permanent members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
Currently, Palestine only has non-member observer status, which it gained in 2012. That status is a de-facto recognition of statehood, but does not allow it to vote on UN resolutions United
In the past the UN Security Council has voted in favor of resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw from territory it has occupied since the 1967 war, which would form a future Palestinian state. But Israel has continued to build settlements on that land, making a two-state solution increasingly unviable.
The United States has repeatedly used its veto to block resolutions critical of its close ally Israel, including several times against calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Ziad Abu Amr, the special representative of the Palestinian president, said that the adoption of the resolution will give hope to the Palestinian people “for a decent life within an independent state.”
“We still long to exercise our right to self-determination, to live in freedom, security and peace in an independent state similar to other countries around the world,” he said.
“The plight of the Palestinian people began over a century ago and is still ongoing,” he added during a debate on the bill on Thursday. “We have made every real effort possible, we have made historically unimaginable concessions in order to secure peace based on the two-state solution.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said that a vote on the resolution was “a reward for terrorists” who were part of the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7 attack.
“If this resolution is passed – God forbid – this should no longer be known as the Security Council but as the ‘terror’ council,” he said. “The only thing that forced unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state will do is make any future negotiations almost impossible.”
US rivals such as China and Russia condemned America’s veto.
The veto “once again showed what they really think of the Palestinians,” according to Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, who noted that the vote marked the fifth time the US had vetoed a resolution. since the 7 October war started.
“For Washington, they don’t deserve to have their own State,” he said of the US position towards Palestine. “They are just an obstacle on the path towards the realization of Israel’s interests.”
Some Israeli leaders have already endorsed the idea of ​​a two-state solution. But Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said following the Hamas attack that “everyone knows that I am the one who for decades has prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state which would endanger our existence.”
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, which was launched in retaliation for a Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel. Large parts of Gaza are now in a state of near starvation due to the ongoing siege of the territory.
