UN Security Council Committee Fails to Agree on Full Membership of Palestine

JAKARTA - The United Nations Security Council committee considering the Palestinian Authority's application for full UN membership was "unable to make a unanimous recommendation" on whether it meets the criteria, according to a committee report seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The Security Council's committee on admitting new members, consisting of 15 member states, approved its report on Tuesday after meeting twice last week to discuss the Palestinian application.

"On the issue of whether the application meets all membership criteria, the Committee was unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council," the report said, adding "there were different views expressed," as quoted by Reuters April 17.

The Palestinian Authority is still expected to push for the 15-member Security Council to vote, as early as Thursday, on a draft resolution recommending the country become a full member of the world body, diplomats said.

Members of Algeria's Security Council circulated a draft of the text on Tuesday evening.

Such membership would effectively recognize the Palestinian state as a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of the statehood granted by the 193-member UN General Assembly in 2012.

However, an application for full UN membership must be approved by the Security Council, which Israel's ally, the United States, can block, as well as the support of at least two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly.

The United States said earlier this month that the creation of an independent Palestinian state must be carried out through direct negotiations between interested parties, not through the United Nations.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has long supported the vision of two states living side by side within safe and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, all territories Israel captured in 1967.

Little progress has been made in achieving Palestinian statehood, since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the early 1990s.

It is known that UN membership is open to "peace-loving countries" that accept the obligations contained in the UN Charter, are able and willing to carry them out.