The Palestinian request for membership in the United Nations and the bid for formal statehood recognition reached a setback this week as the UN Security Council committee failed to reach an agreement over the Palestinian application. On Friday, November 11, the United Nations Security Council’s admissions committee, which includes all 15 council members, said that the body was “unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council”.
Although the Security Council discussions have been focused on whether the Palestinians meet the technical criteria for membership, diplomats say that ultimately the decision have been political for many countries.
Because of US vows to veto, if the application came to a vote in the Security Council, the Palestinians never expected to gain recognition this way. It could have been a moral victory, however. If they were able to gather the nine votes needed to pass a resolution, the US would have been placed in the embarrassing position of having to veto and be exposed as the main obstacle to the bid.
According to UN diplomats, the Palestinians currently have the support of eight of the 15 member states in the Security Council. These are Russia, China, South Africa, India, Brazil, Lebanon, Nigeria and Gabon. It is now up to the PLO if they wish to call a vote on their application. But because they need nine votes to pass the resolution, the US would not need to use its veto power to block it.
In spite of expressions of sympathy with the Palestinians, the European states in the Security Council have declared that they share the US concerns that a Palestinian state could harm chances of reviving peace talks and ignite violence in the region. Britain and France (and Columbia) have said they will abstain in a potential vote. Portugal and Bosnia are also likely not to vote. Germany is expected to abstain or join the US in voting against the measure.
Now the issue will formally revert to the Security Council, but the deep divisions summed up by the admissions committee report signals failure of the bid, at least for now. If the Palestinian delegation decides not to call a vote on the bid now, they could once again push for full UN membership in a few weeks or months or they could seek the status of a non-member observer state to the UN in the General Assembly.
At a press conference in Tunis on Friday, November 11, Abbas said he is determined to go all the way and gain full membership at the UN. The Palestinian delegation is now reviewing their options and will soon decide on the next step according to Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour.
Also this Friday, November 11, the official PA news agency reported plans of a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal in Cairo in the last 10 days of November. Here they will discuss a range of pending issues, including Abbas’ suggestion to hold a general election as soon as possible.
On Monday, November 7, the President reportedly told members of his Fatah faction of the plans for Palestinian elections. Elections for the PA presidency and the National Legislative Council will be held in May, 2012, and Abbas is to have asked the senior Fatah officials to make serious preparations for the polls. Abbas affirmed that he will not run for reelection and urged the Fatah officials to agree on another candidate.
South of Hebron, on Friday November 11, Israeli soldiers accidentally killed a settler and wounded two others when they opened fire on a car at a roadblock. The Israeli soldiers fired shots when the man driving the car did not notice a checkpoint and passed through without stopping. The Israeli army has now opened an investigation into the incident, because, according to instructions, soldiers are not supposed to shoot at a moving vehicle. In the past, Palestinians have been victims of similar shootings, accusing Israeli soldiers of opening fire on vehicles without warning.
Further this Thursday, November 10, a group of Jewish extremists carried out another “price-tag” attack, this time on the ‘Ma’man Allah’ historical cemetery in east Jerusalem. According to witnesses they wrote racist slogans on the tombstones and the cemetery’s walls.
On Monday, November 7, three Palestinians were arrested for working on their land in the village of Irtas, near Bethlehem. A settler brought the police to the land claiming that the farmers were trespassing and had cut down trees. According to one of the farmers, Jamal Assad, he has papers to prove ownership of the land. He said the settlers had cut down 80 olive trees and set fire to his house to force him to leave his land that is located near Gush Ezion settlement bloc south of Bethlehem.