US Vetoes Palestine’s Push to Join UN

(UnitedVoice.com) – Palestine has tried to join the United Nations (UN) as a full member for years. Currently, it’s one of only two permanent observer states. Recently, the international organization voted on whether to give it full membership, but the US stepped in.

On April 19, the United Nations Security Council held the vote. Twelve members voted to approve Palestine’s membership to the council. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained from voting and the US vetoed the resolution. President Joe Biden’s decision to veto effectively killed the measure.

The Hill reported Vedant Patel, the State Department’s principal deputy spokesperson, issued a statement before the vote calling the Palestine Authority’s (PA) effort to join as a full member premature. He said there wasn’t a consensus among the members about whether to allow Palestine to join because it wasn’t clear whether they met all of the criteria. One of the questions that was not resolved was who the governing authority for the Gaza Strip would be.

Currently, Hamas governs the Gaza Strip. However, Israel has said it will be at war in the region until it completely eliminates the militant group. The Palestine Authority governs the West Bank but does not have control over Gaza.

Patel said the leadership question was why the US was going to vote no on the resolution to allow Palestine full membership.

On April 20, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestine Authority was going to “reevaluate its relations with the US” after the Biden administration’s veto. He accused the US president of taking “hostile positions” that have “generated unprecedented anger among the Palestinian people.” He believes that has created more “instability, chaos, and terrorism” in the region.

Abbas went on to say that Palestine is standing “on the threshold of a new and challenging phase,” and they have a lot of options to develop plans to protect its own agenda, rather than follow the “American vision or regional agendas.”

President Biden’s administration has not responded to the remarks made by Abbas.