Israel Today: The UN recognition of a Palestinian state will be likely on Friday
Israel Today newspaper said on Monday evening that a majority of UN member states will recognize the state of Palestine on Friday, without Washington using its veto power.
“The United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote on Friday to recognize a Palestinian state, a vote that will give the Palestinian Authority the de facto status and rights of a state,” Israel Today newspaper said.
There is serious concern in Israel about a unilateral resolution by the UN General Assembly that could be accepted by a two-thirds majority recognizing a Palestinian state.
On the feasibility of a possible US Veto, Israel Today said, “It’s estimated that it won’t be possible to prevent such a decision, since the automatic majority supports the Palestinians, and therefore the US veto won’t work”.
The US law stipulates that if the Palestinians go to the unilateral step of being recognized as a state by the United Nations, contrary to Israel’s opinion, the US administration should automatically cancel all its UN budgets, as this is a violation of the Oslo Accords (the first and second signed in 1993 and 1994).
The upcoming vote will make the Palestinians a de facto state without obtaining such formal status.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said in a post on X, Monday evening, “It’s expected that a vote will be held on Friday in the UN General Assembly on granting the Palestinian Authority de facto status and rights to a state”.
Erdan claimed that the Palestinians are once again exploiting the automatic political majority and moral decay of the United Nations, to obtain statehood through the Security Council, as required, and they have bypassed the Council, trampled on all rules and submitted the resolution to the General Assembly.
“If the resolution is approved, it won’t change anything on the ground, but it will prove how detached the UN is from reality and how rewarding terrorism is,” he added.
Palestinians currently enjoy observer state status, a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2012.
On April 18, 2024, Washington vetoed a resolution opening the door to full membership in the United Nations at the UN Security Council.
At the time, the draft resolution submitted by Algeria and recommends to the General Assembly the admission of the State of Palestine to membership in the United Nations was supported by 12 members (out of 15 members of the Security Council) and opposed by the United States, with both Britain and Switzerland abstaining.
Under the UN Charter, membership of the organization is open to all peace-loving states that accept the obligations contained in the Charter of the United Nations, and which the organization believes are capable of implementing these obligations.
States are admitted to membership in the United Nations by a resolution of the General Assembly on the recommendation of 9 members of the Security Council provided that none of the 5 permanent members (Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States) votes against the request.
Last week, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said during his participation in the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that a number of EU members are expected to recognize a Palestinian state by the end of May.
Borrell didn’t name the countries, but is believed to be Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia, which announced in March that they intended to jointly recognize a Palestinian state.
