US vetoes resolution to recognize Palestine as a state at the UNSC

A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) proposal that would have recognized a Palestinian state was rejected by the US on Thursday. Two nations, the UK and Switzerland, abstained from voting on the resolution, while twelve members of the Security Council supported it. However, a US veto made sure that a draft resolution that was supposed to be put to a vote in the General Assembly was not adopted by the UNSC.

“The UNSC, having examined the application of the State of Palestine for admission to the UN, recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the UN,” said the draft resolution, which was one of the shortest in the UNSC’s history.

Six months into the Gaza conflict, Palestine on April 2 filed a proposal to the UN Secretary-General, requesting a reconsideration of its 2011 bid to join the UN. The suggestion was taken into consideration by the UNSC in 2011, but they were unable to come to a consensus to propose anything to the General Assembly. The Committee on the Admission of Member States, which convened on April 8 and 11, received this request from the UNSC and discussed it.

Palestine was an observer at the UN General Assembly prior to becoming a Permanent Observer at the UN in 2012.

“Unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the UN,” was how Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the US veto with utmost acercity. Nevertheless, in light of “the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz applauded the US for vetoing a “shameful proposal” that may have been a “reward for terrorism.”

Prior to the vote, the US State Department had said that Washington will reject the motion because it thinks future statehood should be subject to talks between Israel and the Palestinians.