The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council \u201creconsider the matter favourably\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vote by the 193-member UNGA on Friday was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member \u2013 a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state \u2013 after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The assembly adopted a resolution on Friday with 143 votes in favor and nine against \u2013 including the United States and Israel \u2013 while 25 countries abstained. It does not give the Palestinians full UN membership, but simply recognises them as qualified to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UNGA resolution \u201cdetermines that the State of Palestine \u2026 should therefore be admitted to membership\u201d and it \u201crecommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favourably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the UNGA alone cannot grant full UN membership, the draft resolution on Friday will give the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 \u2013 like a seat among the UN members in the assembly hall \u2013 but it will not be granted a vote in the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera\u2019s Gabriel Elizondo said it was significant that such a high number of countries voted in favor of the resolution. \u201cWhat we were hearing before the vote was anywhere perhaps between 120, 130 \u2013 at top end, 140. The fact that they got 143 meets and exceeds all expectations. It\u2019s been overwhelmingly passed,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they still only have observer status.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Palestinian push for full UN membership comes seven months into a war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and as Israel is expanding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to the vote, Riyad Mansour, Palestine\u2019s ambassador to the UN told the UNGA that \u201cvoting \u2018Yes\u2019 is the right thing to do and I can assure you, you and your country for years to come will be proud to have stood for freedom, justice and peace in this darkest hour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the resolution\u2019s passage showed that the world stands with the rights and freedom of the Palestinian people, and against Israel\u2019s occupation. \u201cI think strategically speaking, this [the vote] is not going to make any difference to Gaza,\u201d Al Jazeera\u2019s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is far more symbolic. It is an important milestone for Palestine for achieving status in the world arena.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An application to become a full UN member first needs to be approved by the 15-member Security Council and then the UNGA. If the measure is again voted on by the council it is likely to face the same fate: a U.S. veto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bishara said that stances towards the U.S. likely affected Friday\u2019s vote. \u201cI think a good number of votes [in favour] were against the United States as much as they were for Palestine, and I think a good number of votes were abstaining under pressure from the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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