Palestinian Authority seeks UN vote for full membership this month

The Palestinian Authority is seeking a vote by the United Nations Security Council within this month to grant it full membership status in the global organisation, the Palestinian UN representative told Reuters on Monday.

According to Riyad Mansour, the goal is to have the Security Council make a determination during a ministerial meeting on the Middle East set for 18 April, though a vote has not been scheduled yet.

He told Reuters that the Palestinian request for full membership from 2011 remains unresolved, as the 15-member council has yet to make a formal decision on it.

“The intention is to put the application to a vote in the Security Council this month,” he added.

In 2011, the Security Council committee reviewed the Palestinian membership application for several weeks. However, it failed to achieve a unanimous consensus, leading to the absence of a council vote on a resolution to endorse Palestinian membership.

Diplomats at the time indicated that the Palestinians lacked sufficient backing within the Security Council to compel a US veto despite the US expressing its opposition to the bid. For a resolution to pass, it requires a minimum of nine affirmative votes and no objections from any of the permanent members: the US, Russia, China, France, or Britain.