The proposal to give Palestine full membership of the United Nations passed

Last Updated on May 11, 2024 9:02 am

A proposal to grant Palestine full membership of the United Nations has been passed. The resolution was overwhelmingly passed when it was tabled in the UN General Assembly on Friday.

143 out of 193 member countries voted in favor of the resolution. 9, including the United States and Israel, voted against. And 25 countries abstained from voting. News: Reuters.

Last month, the United States vetoed a proposal to grant Palestine membership to the 15-member UN Security Council. After that, Palestine renewed and resubmitted the application. That proposal was voted on Friday.

The vote, to be held in the 193-member General Assembly, will serve as a global survey of support for the Palestinians. An application to become a full member of the United Nations must first be approved by the Security Council and then by the General Assembly.

The General Assembly alone cannot approve full membership of the United Nations. But after Friday’s vote on the draft resolution, Palestine will be able to enjoy some additional rights and privileges from September 2024. For example, they will have a seat in the Assembly Hall of the General Assembly like other members of the United Nations. However, they will not have any voting power.

Seven months have passed since the Israel-Hamas war in the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israel continues to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank. The United Nations considers this illegal. Therefore, Palestine is repeatedly pressing to get full membership of the United Nations.

Palestine is currently an observer state that is not a member of the United Nations. The country received this recognition under the two-state solution agreement passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012. Full membership requires the approval of two-thirds of the member states of the Security Council and the General Assembly.