UNGA passes symbolic vote to allow Palestine full membership
World
UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday in support of Palestinian bid for full membership
UNITED NATIONS (Agencies) - The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday (May 10) in support of a Palestinian bid for full membership of the world body, a symbolic move after the United States vetoed the measure in the Security Council.
The resolution, which states that the Palestinians should be admitted to the UN and grants them some additional rights as observers, received 143 votes for, 9 against and 25 abstentions.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority said the UN vote showed Palestine "deserves full membership".
"I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, but never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, a historic one," Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said before the vote, his voice full of emotion.
He added: "The day will come where Palestine will take its rightful place among the community of free nations."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said it sent the message to Hamas that "violence pays off".
Israel's UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan said the resolution made him sick: "With this new precedent, we may see here representatives of ISIS or Boko Haram that will sit among us," Erdan said, referring to two jihadist groups.
He said it would give "the rights of a state to an entity that is already partly controlled by terrorists and will be replaced by a force of child-murdering Hamas rapists".
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood called the resolution "an unproductive text".
While "our vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood", Wood said after the resolution passed, "it remains the US view that unilateral measures at the UN and on the ground will not advance this goal".
With the war in Gaza raging, the Palestinians in April relaunched a request dating back to 2011 to become full members of the United Nations, where their current status is that of a "nonmember observer state."
To succeed, the initiative needed a Security Council green light and then a two-thirds majority vote in the General Assembly.
But the United States - one of five veto-holding members on the Security Council and Israel's closest ally - blocked it on Apr 18.
The resolution, introduced by the United Arab Emirates, says: "The State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter and should therefore be admitted."
It calls on the Security Council to "reconsider the matter favourably."
US OPPOSED STATEHOOD UNTIL ISRAEL AGREES
The United States, however, opposes any recognition of statehood outside of a bilateral accord between the Palestinians and Israel, whose current right-wing government is adamantly opposed to a two-state solution.
While the passing of the resolution will "have a profound impact on the future of the Palestinian people", said UAE Ambassador Mohamed Issa Abushahab, it "does not do justice to the state of Palestine, as it only grants additional rights, meaning that Palestine will remain an observer state".
Richard Gowan, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the move could create "a sort of diplomatic doom loop, with the Assembly repeatedly calling for the Council to grant Palestine membership and the US vetoing it".
The draft resolution nonetheless gives the Palestinians certain "additional rights and privileges" starting in the next session of the General Assembly, in September.
PALESTINIANS CAN SUBMIT PROPOSALS DIRECTLY
The text explicitly rules out letting the Palestinians be chosen to sit on the Security Council or to vote in the General Assembly.
But it lets them submit proposals and amendments directly, without having to go through another country, as is the case now.
It also gives them the right to be seated among member states in alphabetical order.
"The symbolism is what matters," said Gowan. "This resolution is a very clear signal to Israel and the US that it is time to take Palestinian statehood seriously."
As Israel presses on with its war in Gaza against Hamas in response to the Oct 7 attack, the UN vote allows the Palestinians to gauge support from other countries.
In December, 153 countries out of 193 backed a call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war. Ten voted against, including the United States, while 23 abstained.
"EPIC HUMANITARIAN DISASTER"
Also on Friday, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Gaza risked an "epic humanitarian disaster" as Israeli military operations around its far-southern city of Rafah effectively halted aid operations.
Earlier this week, Israeli ground troops seized eastern areas of the city, including the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, but they have yet to enter its main built-up area.
AFP journalists witnessed artillery strikes on the city Friday and the Israeli army said operations were continuing in the east of the city.
"On the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, the troops eliminated several terror cells during close-quarters combat and with an aerial strike," the military said.
But there was no sign yet of the full-scale assault promised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even after US President Joe Biden threatened on Wednesday to halt some arms deliveries if he goes ahead.
"If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone," the hawkish premier said in a statement late on Thursday. "We are determined and we are united in order to defeat our enemies and those who want to destroy us."
Netanyahu has said repeatedly that Israel cannot defeat Hamas and extinguish any possibility of the militant group repeating its bloody Oct 7 attack without sending ground troops into Rafah in search of remaining Hamas fighters.
But Washington has warned that the reputational damage Israel will suffer if it storms a city where an estimated 1.4 civilians are sheltering will far outweigh any possible military gain
Israel's military operations around Rafah have already had a severe impact on Gaza civilians, UN agencies said.
RAFAH IS ONLY BORDER FITTED FOR FUEL DELIVERY
The Rafah crossing, which Israeli troops closed on Tuesday, is the only one equipped to handle deliveries of fuel and the United Nations says stocks inside Gaza have now run out, effectively halting all humanitarian operations.
"In Gaza, there are no stocks (of fuel) ... (That) means no movement," said Andrea De Domenico, who heads the UN humanitarian office in the Palestinian territories.
"It is completely crippling the humanitarian operations."
More than 100,000 people, many of them already displaced from other areas of Gaza, have fled Rafah this week, the UN said.
Most have taken to the road with only what they can carry and little idea of where they might find shelter, let alone safety.
Many have returned to the city of Khan Yunis, where intense fighting raged earlier this year, or are crowded into shelters along the seashore in the central town of Deir al-Balah.
The Israeli army said four soldiers were killed and two seriously wounded on Friday when an "explosive device" went off near a school in Gaza City.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally, said it "detonated a field of mines and high-explosive ground devices" in the city's Zeitoun neighbourhood.
The latest deaths take to 271 the Israeli military's losses in the Gaza campaign since the start of its ground offensive on Oct 27.
The war began with Hamas's unprecedented Oct 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,943 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
UN and European officials have also condemned attacks against aid workers and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which forced it to temporarily close its headquarters in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on Thursday.
UNWRA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency had to act after twin arson attacks by "Israeli extremists" on the compound's perimeter put the lives of staff at "serious risk".
He described how "a crowd accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting 'Burn down the United Nations'".
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc "strongly condemns the attack".
"It is Israel's responsibility to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers. UNRWA is an irreplaceable lifeline to millions in Gaza and the region," he said in a post on X.
UN chief Guterres echoed his comments. "Targeting aid workers and humanitarian assets is unacceptable, and must stop," he said in a post.
