Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Adnan al-Husseini, said that President Mahmoud Abbas will submit a formal request for Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations during his address to the General Assembly in September.
“After this speech there will be difficult and fateful decisions, the most important of which is the determination of the relationship with the occupation authorities,” he added.
The expected Palestinian demand comes in response to the US positions on the Palestinian issue.
The Palestinian Central Council set up a plan to confront the US, beginning with a request for full membership in the UN, then suspending recognition of Israel and abandoning all agreements with it.
The Central Committee requested the Executive Committee to submit specific timetables that include a comprehensive definition of the political, economic and security relations with Israel, including the suspension of the recognition of Israel until the latter recognizes the State of Palestine according to June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Permanent representative of Palestine to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said on Monday that “the legal procedures to obtain the full membership must pass through three phases, beginning with the UN Secretary-General, then the Security Council and finally the General Assembly.
“We have passed the first phase. The second will be difficult to attain as long as Washington continues to veto the adoption of a resolution by the Security Council in particular. The third phase is the General Assembly. In case the Security Council passed a resolution recommending the membership of the State of Palestine, then Palestine will have two-thirds of votes in the General Assembly to gain it,” Mansour explained.
In order for a country to become a member state in the UN, it should be supported by nine of the 15 UN Security Council members, provided that the veto is not used by one or more of the five permanent members.
Palestine received an observer status at the UN in 2012, when 138 countries voted in favor of the draft resolution at the time, while nine opposed it and 41 abstained.
