UPDATING LIVE: UN General Assembly presses Security Council to give ‘favourable consideration’ to full Palestinian membership
What does the resolution mean?
Just a quick recap of what this means: by adopting this resolution the General Assembly will upgrade the rights of the State of Palestine within the world body – but not the right to vote or put forward its candidature to organs such as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Granting Palestinian membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council. At the same time, the Assembly determines that the State of Palestine is qualified for such status and recommends that the Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”.
None of the upgrades in status will take effect until the new session of the Assembly opens on 10 September.
Here are some of the changes in status that Palestine will have a right to later this year:
- To be seated among Member States in alphabetical order;
- make statements on behalf of a group;
- submit proposals and amendments and introduce them;
- co-sponsor proposals and amendments, including on behalf of a group;
- propose items to be included in the provisional agenda of the regular or special sessions and the right to request the inclusion of supplementary or additional items in the agenda of regular or special sessions;
- the right of members of the delegation of the State of Palestine to be elected as officers in the plenary and the Main Committees of the General Assembly;
- full and effective participation in United Nations conferences and international conferences and meetings convened under the auspices of the General Assembly or, as appropriate, under the auspices of other organs of the United Nations.
LIVE COVERAGE CONTINUES:
12:10 PM
Firmly committed to two-State solution: UK
Barbara Woodward, Ambassador of the United Kingdom, said that her country remains “firmly committed” to the two-State solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.
“We are abstaining from this resolution because we believe the first step towards achieving this goal is resolving the immediate crisis in Gaza,” she said, emphasizing that the fastest way to end the conflict is “to secure a deal, which gets the hostages out and allows for a pause in the fighting.”
“We must then work together to turn that pause into a sustainable, permanent ceasefire.”
She added that “setting out the horizon” for a Palestinian State should be one of the vital conditions from moving from a pause in fighting to a sustainable ceasefire.
“Recognizing a Palestinian State, including at the UN, should be part of that process,” she said.
Ambassador Woodward also noted that the UK remains deeply concerned about the prospect of a major operation in Rafah and that it will not support such an act, unless there is a “very clear plan” on protecting civilians as well as their to aid and medical care.
“We have not seen that plan, so in these circumstances, we will not support a major operation in Rafah,” she said.
11:46 AM
Statehood must be negotiated: US
Explaining the US’ negative vote, Ambassador Robert Wood said that it did not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood.
“We have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully. Instead, it is an acknowledgement that statehood will come from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties,” he said.
“There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state. There is not other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and dignity in a state of their own,” he added.
He further expressed the US commitment to intensifying its engagement with Palestinians and the rest of the Middle East region to advance a political settlement that will create a path to Palestinian Statehood and subsequent membership in the UN.
“This resolution does not resolve the concerns about the Palestinian membership application raised in April in the Security Council…and should the Security Council take up the Palestinian membership application as a result of this resolution, there will be a similar outcome,” he said.
11:24 AM
Draft resolution passed overwhelmingly
The vote is in. It has passed overwhelmingly with 143 countries in favour, nine against and 25 abstaining.
11:22 AM
The Assembly just voted to pass the draft resolution as long as two-thirds agree.
11:18 AM
Pakistan: Resolution vote will determine strong support
Munir Akram, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, said there will come a day when Israel will be held accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
The insults hurled today are “the arrogance of the aggressor”, reflecting the impunity of the occupier, he said, expressing hope that the international community will appropriately respond.
The resolution’s adoption will determine the widespread support for Palestine to be accorded full UN membership.
11:05 AM
Russia: A moral duty
The Assembly is now preparing to vote on the draft resolution. Before that, some countries are exercising their right to make statements before the vote, starting with Russia’s Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.
He is criticising the US saying that the resolution is complicated because it is attempting to advance Palestinian membership as far as possible, without provoking another veto from Washington on full membership.
He said Palestine deserves nothing less than full membership of the UN.
“It is the moral duty of everyone. Only fully fledged membership will allow Palestine to stand alongside other members of the Organization and enjoy the rights that this status implies,” he declared.
10:55 AM
Israel: Extra benefits for Palestine would appease terrorists
Gild Erdan, Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN, said after Hitler’s rise to power, the Nazis sought to annihilate the Jewish people and all those they deemed sub-human, but the forces of good fought to return peace to the world, and the UN was founded to ensure that such tyranny never raises its head again.
“Today, you are doing the opposite…welcoming a terror State into its ranks,” he said.
“You have opened up the United Nations to modern-day Naziism. It makes me sick.”
The terrorist group Hamas controls Gaza and has taken over areas of the West Bank, he said, holding up a poster showing Hamas’s leader, who he described as “a terrorist diplomat whose stated goal is Jewish genocide”.
“Today, you have a choice between weakness and fighting terror,” he said, adding that the UN is appeasing “murderous dictators” and destroying the UN Charter. “This day will go down in infamy.”
In closing, he held up a mini portable electric document shredder and inserted the cover of the UN Charter.
10:48 AM
Palestinian flag ‘flies high and proud’
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the observer State of Palestine, recounted the devastating impacts of the ongoing war in Gaza, with over 35,000 Palestinians killed, a further 80,000 injured and over two million displaced.
“No words can capture what such loss and trauma signify for Palestinians, their families, their communities and for our nation as whole,” he said.
He added that the Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed to the “very edge” of the Strip, “to the very brink of life” with “bombs and bullets haunting them”.
Mr. Mansour highlighted that despite the attacks and destruction, the flag of Palestine “flies high and proud” in Palestine and across the globe becoming a “symbol raised by all those who believe in freedom and its just rule”.
‘Lives cannot be restored’
“It is true that we will not disappear but the lives lost cannot be restored,” he stated.
He said people have to make a decision: stand by the right of a nation to live in freedom and dignity on its ancestral land, standing with peace and recognizing the rights of Palestinians -or they can stand on the sidelines of history.
Mr. Mansour said after holding observer status for fifty years, “we wish from all those who invoke the UN Charter to abide by the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination guaranteed by the Charter”.
“A ‘Yes’ vote is a vote for Palestinian existence, it is not against any State but it is against our attempts to deprive us of our State,” he added, stating that it would be an investment in peace and empowering the forces of peace.
10:29 AM
Security Council must heed global call for Palestinian statehood: UAE
On behalf of the Arab Group, Mohamed Issa Hamad Mohamed Abushahab, Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the UN, introduced the draft resolution, saying that it recommends that the Security Council reconsider Palestine’s full UN membership application.
“Today marks a defining moment,” he said.
The State of Palestine has demonstrated that it deserves full membership in the international community by acceding to international treaties, adhering to the UN Charter and meeting requirements of statehood. In addition, more than 140 countries now recognise Palestine as a State, he said.
Voting for the resolution amid the ongoing conflict would support the two-State solution to the crisis, he said, adding that the Security Council must respond to the will of the international community.
Vote to take place at 11:00 AM
After speaking, the UAE Ambassador called on the Assembly to vote on the draft at 11:00 AM New York time. Members agreed to do so and afterwards will resume the debate.
10:17 AM
Middle East on course for ‘full-scale catastrophe’, warns Francis
Mr. Francis said from the podium of the Assembly Hall that the Israel-Palestine crisis was the original crisis before the world body, when it was founded in 1946.
Peace has remained elusive and today has become an untenable situation that is deteriorating “at an alarming speed” he told delegates.
This is “bringing countless innocent victims into its deadly fold and pushing the region further to the brink of full-scale catastrophe”.
He urged the international community to not look away from the dire situation that has unfolded since the 7 October terror attacks and the ensuing Israeli devastation of Gaza.
End the scourge of war
“Today let us remember the legacy from which we hail. We stand proudly upon the shoulders of those who, many decades ago, recognized their ultimate responsibility to forge a peace that will banish the scourge and terror of war,” he urged.
“I therefore call upon the membership to purposely assess the situation before us, with nothing else in mind but a commitment to peace as our utmost ambition,” he said.
He called upon the parties to the conflict, supported by nations with leverage, to urgently come to an agreement on a ceasefire to bring to an end the suffering of countless people and secure the release of all hostages.
“We must believe in the essential goodness of others”, he concluded, and in the understanding that no problem of human relations is insoluble”, calling on them to help bring lasting peace, save lives and end the violence.
10:14 AM
He’s inviting the Assembly to recognize the fact that some members are in arrears with their mandatory contributions. If you don’t pay up, you lose your vote. Those are the rules. But there are exceptions that have been made, including today.
10:12 AM
The President of the General Assembly Dennis Francis has just gavelled in the resumed session on the Gaza crisis.
09:55 AM
Aid operations have come to a standstill since the start of the military’s ground operation in Rafah, with an estimated 100,000 Palestinians displaced once again, in a highly fluid situation, according to humanitarians.
UNRWA
The Assembly is also expected to vote on a draft resolution, co-sponsored by a group of countries, concerning the status of the Observer State of Palestine at the United Nations.
The draft resolution follows the veto cast by United States at the Security Council on 18 April, which blocked Palestine’s admission as a full UN Member State. That draft resolution, submitted by non-permanent member Algeria, had received twelve votes in favour, with Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstaining.
Draft resolution on Palestine
The draft resolution expected to be put to a vote at the 193-member General Assembly, where no nations have veto power, and is expected to “recommend” that the Security Council reconsider the matter of Palestine’s membership favourably in line with Article 4 of the UN Charter concerning membership and the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1948.
A revised version of the draft resolution, as of Thursday evening in New York, also includes an Annex, which on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent, lists significant changes to the State of Palestine’s status in General Assembly meetings and conferences, including its order in the list of speakers and seating arrangements.
These would not just be of symbolic importance but signal a shift in Palestine’s diplomatic heft within the entire UN system. That said, General Assembly will not grant Palestinian membership in the UN, since this requires a recommendation from the Security Council.
No voting rights
It also notes that as an Observer State, Palestine does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to UN organs such as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council.
If adopted, the modalities would only apply from the start of the 79th session of the General Assembly, which gets underway in mid-September 2024.
Draft resolutions do not represent the official position of the General Assembly until they are formally adopted.
Once the resolution is voted on, the whole issue of Palestine’s status will return to the Security Council for further consideration where any effort to attain full membership is likely to be blocked again by permanent member, the US.
The majority of the General Assembly will have had their say, however, amid the continuing crisis.
Tenth Emergency Special Session
The meeting is the continuation of the tenth Emergency Special Session (tenth ESS), which last convened on 12 December 2023, against the backdrop of a worsening crisis in Gaza.
At that meeting in a resolution passed overwhelmingly, the Assembly demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
The Assembly also decided to adjourn the session temporarily and authorized the President of the General Assembly to resume its meeting upon request from Member States.
The tenth ESS convened for the first time in April 1997, following a request from Qatar. It followed a series of Security Council and General Assembly meetings regarding the Israeli decision to build a large housing project in an area of East Jerusalem.
