But there appears to be little chance it could succeed at
present because the United States would veto it in the Security Council.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Aug. 16 in
Sarajevo that he would deliver the application to UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon at some point during the upcoming gathering of world leaders for the UN
General Assembly session, which begins the week of Sept. 19.
The Palestinians are UN observers without voting rights. The
European Union is also an observer, while the Vatican is what is known as a
non-member observer state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he wants the
world to recognize a Palestinian state at the General Assembly in September and
support its admission to the United Nations.
US President Barack Obama said last year he hoped a
Palestinian state could be admitted to the United Nations by the time world
leaders gather for the 2011 General Assembly.
That statement, US officials say, was only an expression of
hope, not a call for a vote this autumn on Palestinian UN membership.
Israel is lobbying against the Palestinians’ UN bid. It sees
the plan as an attempt to isolate and delegitimize it.
But a number of European Union states, UN diplomats say, are
looking increasingly favorably on the idea, largely due to frustration with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and what they see as its
recalcitrance over settlements and other issues holding up peace talks.
Technically the United Nations does not recognize states.
Individual UN members do that on a bilateral basis. In reality, however,
membership in the United Nations is generally considered to be confirmation
that a country is an internationally recognized sovereign state.
If the Palestinians were to upgrade their status to that of
a non-member observer state, it would be a kind of implicit UN recognition of a
Palestinian state.
Countries seeking to join the United Nations usually present
an application to the secretary-general, who passes it to the UN Security
Council to assess and vote on. If the 15-nation council approves the membership
request, it is passed to the UN General Assembly for approval. A membership
request needs a two-thirds majority, or 129 votes, for approval.
A country cannot join the United Nations unless the Security
Council and General Assembly approve its application.
In theory, yes. But as long as the United States is ready to
use its veto to block a Palestinian request for UN membership, there is no
chance of success.
Even if the Palestinians secured a two-thirds majority of
votes in the General Assembly, there is no getting around the need for prior
approval of the Security Council. According to the UN charter, membership in
the United Nations “will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon
the recommendation of the Security Council.”
If Washington changed its position and agreed to back a
Palestinian UN membership bid, or to abstain during a Security Council vote, it
would probably succeed.
In addition to applying to become a full UN member state,
which requires approval by the UN Security Council, the Palestinians could also
seek upgraded observer status as a non-member state.
That is what the Vatican has and what Switzerland had before
it joined the United Nations in 2002. Such status, UN envoys say, would
constitute implicit UN recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinian UN delegation has suggested it might also
pursue this option. The advantage of this option is that it would only require
approval of two thirds of the General Assembly. Since around 120 countries have
already recognized the state of Palestine to date, UN diplomats say that it
would not be difficult to secure the necessary 129 votes.
Such a move would have benefits. If the Palestinians were to
be recognized as a non-member state, they would be able to sign certain
international treaties, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court, which they cannot currently sign, UN diplomats say.
