US Rejects Palestine’s Full UN Membership Bid
US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel has expressed the United States’ position on the bill proposing Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations. In a daily press briefing, Patel emphasized that the US believes the fastest way to achieve Palestine’s statehood is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian administration, supported by the United States.
With regards to the bill put forward by Algeria that seeks full UN membership for Palestine, Patel stated that the USA will vote ‘no’ on the bill in the UN Security Council.
Palestine originally applied for full membership to the UN in 2011, but did not garner enough support in the UN Security Council at that time. Instead, Palestine was granted “observer status” in 2012.
On April 2, Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Riyad Mansur, sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requesting a reconsideration of the membership applications. Subsequently, Guterres urged the UN Security Council on April 3 to include Palestine’s request on the agenda.
Following this, the UN Security Council forwarded Palestine’s request to the “Committee for the Admission of New Members” on April 8. However, after two meetings, the Committee announced that they were unable to reach an agreement on the matter.
The fate of Palestine’s UN membership application remains uncertain as discussions continue among member states. Stay tuned for further developments.
