Palestine’s request to become the 194th State of the United Nations could follow in the relatively quick footsteps of other States that have joined the UN throughout the 21st century, but in its case it faces the probable veto of the United States in the Security Council.
The latest member states
The most recent state to take a seat at the UN as a full member was South Sudan, which in 2011 separated from Sudan after an amicable agreement. Its incorporation into the UN was done by acclamation on July 14 of that year, just a week after its declaration of independence.
In 2006, Montenegro, another state that emerged from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, separated after a popular referendum from the last remaining remnant of that federation and proclaimed its independence from Serbia. The referendum took place on June 3 and on the 28th of that same month the state was admitted to the UN.
And 2002 was a very special year because the UN welcomed two members: Switzerland did so in September, thus putting an end to an anomaly that caused it to host numerous international organizations but not sit at the UN in favor of an inscribed principle of neutrality. in your DNA.
Much more traumatic was the chaos of Timor Leste, which was also admitted in September 2002. The new Asian country, a former Portuguese colony, experienced 24 years of occupation and resistance against Indonesia and then almost three years of administration under UN supervision, but its Entry into the United Nations was approved unanimously by the Assembly.
Palestine’s previous attempt at the UN
In 2011, Palestine presented its formal request to join the United Nations for the first time, but the procedure ran aground in its first stage: it did not obtain the support of 9 of the 15 members of the Security Council (that is, the qualified majority), due to This request did not reach the General Assembly, the second stage of the process.
Palestine had to settle for acquiring the status of “observer state”, an anomaly that only the Vatican has in the United Nations, which is not even considered a country with its own attributes.
Palestine obtained 138 votes in the General Assembly in favor of its new observer status, while 9 voted against (including Israel, the US and Canada) and 41 abstained.
New diplomatic attack
It is foreseeable that Palestine will not have it as easy as South Sudan, Montenegro or Switzerland had it, and all observers assume that Washington will use the tool of the veto in the Security Council, which is the instance where the process of incorporation.
According to the UN charter, the request of a new State necessarily goes through the following stages: it is formulated before the Security Council, which appoints an ad hoc committee to study it made up of fifteen members, and if the committee approves it, The Council then assesses whether it is “a peace-loving state” (article 60), in which case it sends the issue to the General Assembly.
In the Assembly, the votes of two-thirds of member states are needed to move forward, and if that happens, the final decision returns to the Security Council.
The United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council, has the right to veto the process at any time – in 2011 it threatened to do so, but did not need to – and few doubt that it will use it on this occasion as well.
If this happens, the dream of Palestine will have fallen by the wayside.
But something has changed since 2011: Now, every time a permanent member uses the veto power, the issue reaches the General Assembly, where that country must explain its position and submit to a non-binding vote.
In the current situation, the United States will once again be exposed to a very large majority of States that will predictably support Palestinian membership. With EFE