Palestine moved closer to full UN membership. Israel and the Czech Republic voted against

On Friday, the UN General Assembly voted on a resolution that brings Palestine closer to full membership in the world organization, where Palestinians currently only have observer status. The resolution gives Palestinians new rights, while calling on the Security Council to reconsider its position and allow Palestine to become the 194th member state. A total of 143 member states voted for it, i.e. a comfortable majority. Only 25 countries abstained and nine opposed.

The Palestinians sought full membership back in April, but the United States vetoed a resolution that would pave the way for that in the Security Council.

And the deputy US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, said on Thursday that the US would be against this time again: “We have been clear from the beginning that this effort by some Arab countries and the Palestinians is an attempt to circumvent the process of obtaining full membership in the UN. The best way to secure full Palestinian membership, he says, is to do it through negotiations with Israel.

Full membership in the UN has both procedural and substantive legal conditions. A procedural condition is a recommendation from the Security Council to the General Assembly, which then votes on membership. There are five material-legal conditions: only a state can become a member, which must be peaceful, must accept the obligations contained in the UN Charter, and must be capable and willing to fulfill these obligations. At the same time, it is true that not all UN members have to recognize this state bilaterally.

Despite opposition from the US, the resolution passed with a clear majority. Among the states that voted against are the Czech Republic, Argentina, Israel, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the aforementioned United States. EU states remained broadly divided between acceptance and abstention. The French, the Spanish, the Belgians, but also the Poles and Slovaks were in favor, the British, Italians, Dutch and Swedes, for example, abstained.

The original draft of the resolution was significantly changed by the negotiators in order to comply with the comments not only of the USA, but also of Russia or China, writes the AP agency. Palestine would get almost the same rights as full members of the UN, but this bothered even its supporters from Russia and China, as it could mean a future precedent for the cases of Taiwan or Kosovo.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour made an emotional appeal to the delegates of the General Assembly: “Voting yes is the right thing, your country will be proud for years to come to stand for freedom, justice and peace in this darkest hour,” he declared, ending the speech by shouting “Free Palestine “.

On the other hand, Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan subjected most of the world to harsh criticism: “You welcome a terrorist state into your ranks,” he said. “You have opened the UN to modern-day Nazism. It makes me sick,” he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas first submitted the Palestinian Authority’s application for UN membership in 2011. It failed because the Palestinians did not receive the required minimum support of nine of the 15 members of the Security Council.