The United States blocked a UN Security Council resolution that would recognise a Palestinian State on Thursday, according to CNN.
Twelve members of the Security Council voted in favour of the resolution, while two countries – the UK and Switzerland – abstained. The US vetoed the resolution.
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, sharply criticised the US veto, arguing that it was “unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.”
Palestinian attempts to gain recognition as a UN member state come six months after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and taking some 240 hostages. Israel responded to the October 7 attack with an assault that killed nearly 34,000 people in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel announced earlier on Thursday that the US would vote against the Security Council resolution, stating that the US “has been very clear, consistently, that premature actions in New York, even with the best intentions, will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people,” referring to UN headquarters. Future statehood should depend on negotiations between Israel and Palestinian representatives, he added.
“The most expeditious path towards statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners who share this goal.”
Palestine’s attempts to gain recognition as a full member State began in 2011. They are currently a non-member observer state, a status granted in November 2012.
UN Ambassador of the Palestinian Territories Riyad Mansour called the move “a historic moment,” adding that he hoped “the Security Council will elevate itself to implanting the global consensus on a two-state solution by admitting the state of Palestine for full membership.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan condemned the resolution.
This won’t be a regular state. It will be (…) an entity that achieved statehood despite being committed to terror and Israel’s annihilation.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz praised the US for vetoing what he called a “shameful proposal.”
“The proposal to recognise a Palestinian state, more than 6 months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and after the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists was a reward for terrorism.”
