The approval of a resolution to expand its participation in meetings and conferences of the General Assembly was welcomed with optimism by the majority of the forum, which nevertheless recognized the need to grant a full seat and the two-state solution as a way out of the conflict.
The project, which received the green light this Friday by 143 votes in favor, 25 abstentions and nine against, asks the Security Council to attend to the full membership of Palestine and grant significant changes to its current status as permanent observer.
Upon approval, Palestine may exercise the right to occupy a seat among the members in alphabetical order; register on the list of speakers in debates other than Palestinian and Middle East issues; or make statements on behalf of a group, including among representatives of major groups.
The delegation will also have the power to present proposals and amendments and introduce them in the analyzes and may be elected member of the Plenary Bureau and the Main Committees of the General Assembly.
Other guarantees will allow their participation in United Nations and other international conferences convened under the auspices of the General Assembly or other UN bodies.
The provision not only has symbolic importance but also signals a change in the diplomatic weight of Palestine within the entire system of the organization, which will be effective from the beginning of the 79th period of sessions of the General Assembly, in mid-September of this year.
However, Palestine will not be able to vote in the General Assembly or present its candidacy to other important UN bodies such as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council.
The project was debated within the broadest UN forum after the United States stopped full admission in a vote within the Security Council with the use of a veto.
The use of that privilege halted in April the process begun after the Palestinian Authority asked to reconsider its 2011 application to make its state a member of the UN.
That year, the Security Council examined a similar proposal, but could not find unity to send a recommendation to the General Assembly, which according to the UN Charter must hold a vote in which all its members participate.
The procedures for the accession of new members involve the creation of a specialized Committee and the writing of a report that returns to the Council to be voted on.
At least nine of its 15 members must approve the aspiring party, including the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, the permanent members.
Since 2000, only four countries have completed the process to become new active members: Switzerland (2002), East Timor (2002), Montenegro (2006) and South Sudan (2011).
However, the overwhelming approval of the resolution this Friday confirms international support for the two-state solution to the conflict, adding to the recognition of the Palestinian state by more than 140 UN members.
According to experts, although this step does not grant full membership, the vote functions as a global survey on support for Palestine to obtain a full seat within the main political forum on the planet.
This desire would settle a historic debt of the UN after 1947, the so-called partition resolution stipulated the creation of a “Jewish state” and an “Arab state” in Palestine, with Jerusalem as corpus separatum subject to a special international regime.
Despite the decades that have passed, of the two states provided for in said resolution, only one has been created so far: Israel.
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