This April 8, the United Nations body in charge of maintaining peace and stability in the world, will address the possible formal accession of the Palestinian Territories to the community of 193 States of the most important multilateral organization on the planet. The final decision will take weeks, although, if positive, it could consummate the dream of a Palestinian state, forged decades ago, and change the course of the conflict with Israel.
After receiving a letter of request from the Palestinian representation in the United Nations, entrusted by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on April 3, the Security Council will begin the discussion processes on the issue.
The letter requests that the Palestinian Territories, designated by the UN as a non-member observer state of the United Nations, become a full member state within the Organization. The letter alludes to the fact that currently 140 UN countries recognize the Palestinian State. Brazil, Sweden, Poland, Colombia and Egypt are some of the nations that recognize the existence of Palestine as a State.
Early on April 8, the 15 current members of the Security Council (ten rotating and five permanent) will begin talks to form a specialized committee that the United Nations Charter requires for any request for membership. Later, the Secretary General, António Guterres, will publicly read the letter with the Palestinian request.
“We want admission. It is our natural and legal right,” said Riyad Mansour, Palestine's representative to the UN, on April 3, moments after delivering the letter to the current president of the Security Council, who for the month of April It's Malta.
A complicated process
The protocol that the United Nations has created to accept new applicants to officially belong to the institution is complex and full of nuances. The first step is the official receipt of a request by the applicant to belong to the institution, usually materialized in a letter.
With the first step taken, the responsibility falls on the members of the Security Council, who have the duty to form a specialized committee to analyze the case, write a report, and return it to the Security Council to vote on whether to accept or not. in the first instance, to the applicant party.
For the vote to be successful, 9 of the 15 members of the executive body have to give the green light to the accession, also counting on the fact that none of the five permanent members of the Council (United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom) veto the decision.
If the Security Council's response is positive, the proposal goes directly to the General Assembly, where two thirds of the 193 member states must give their favor to the aspiring country. If completed, the request returns to the Security Council once again for the final vote, which materializes the entry of the requesting State.
Since 2000, only four countries have been accepted as new active members of the United Nations, completing the current roster of 193 States.
In 2002, Switzerland completed its accession to the organization, after ending an unusual situation of 'international neutrality'. Switzerland, despite being recognized as a State and being the headquarters of numerous world organizations, had not formally joined the UN.
In the same year, after a difficult peace process, led by the famous diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, East Timor achieved its independence from Indonesia, promoting its admission to the United Nations shortly after.
After proclaiming its independence from Serbia in 2006, Montenegro applied to be part of the family of States on June 3 of that year. 25 days later, Montenegro, which had been part of the former Yugoslavia, consolidated its membership in the UN.
The last case of accession to date was that of South Sudan, in 2011, which consummated its independence from Sudan and became the 193rd State on the list of members of the United Nations just one week after its declaration of independence.
However, the future of the Palestinian request still seems uncertain.
13 years later, the Palestinian Territories return to the diplomatic arena
The Palestinian people's history of seeking formal recognition by the United Nations as a fully functioning Nation-State dates back to the creation of the State of Israel. From the first years of its creation in 1945, after the failure of the defunct League of Nations, the United Nations proposed a two-state solution for the situation in Palestine.
In 1947, with resolution 181, the UN promoted the end of the British mandate in the area and consummated independence with the creation of two States, one Arab and the other Jewish, for the peaceful coexistence of the populations. In 1948, the State of Israel completed its creation, but the Palestinian State could not do the same.
After multiple wars between Israelis and Palestinians, together with the Arab community, the United Nations promoted resolution 338 of 1973, in which it demanded the beginning of peace talks between both fronts, underlining the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population to create a State. sovereign.
A year later, in 1974, the United Nations General Assembly accepted the first Palestinian representation within the organization, providing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) with the status of 'observer' within the Assembly, as well as different conferences. of the institution.
The possibility of Palestine's admission was not a topic of conversation again until 2011. Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian National Authority, PNA, and representative of the Palestinian cause at the international level, sent a formal request to the Security Council to convert to the Palestinian Territories into a UN Member State, which would guarantee the Palestinian people the explicit recognition of the international community, with the formation of a State.
However, the first Palestinian attempt was unsuccessful. The request did not obtain consensus to achieve the necessary 9 votes within the Council – due to the refusal of the United States and the abstentions of six other countries -, which prevented the proposal from being voted on and the dream of the Palestinian State from materializing. at that moment.
Although a year later, the UN empowered the Palestinian Territories as a non-member observer state of the United Nations. A specific condition within the institution and its norms, since only the Vatican shares that status, which does not mean the general recognition of being consolidated States.
What would the entry of a Palestinian State into the United Nations mean?
Today, the situation does not seem so different from 2011.
With the intensification of Israeli hostilities within the Palestinian Territories following the attack last October in Israel carried out by Hamas, Tel Aviv has lost legitimacy in the international arena. This has caused even its closest allies, including the United States, to put pressure on it to stop the massacre of civilians and Washington has repeatedly stated that it is in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state. However, the White House has assured that negotiations for the creation of said State should be carried out “between the parties” and not in the United Nations.
The support of Russia and China for Palestinian accession to the United Nations seems certain, while France and the United Kingdom could join the approval, since, although they are traditionally allies of Tel Aviv, the most recent decisions of the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu has led to the push for a political solution, with Paris advocating the creation of a Palestinian state.
Thus, the one that appears to be the main obstacle to Palestine becoming the 194th State of the United Nations is the United States.
Although the Biden Administration has called for an immediate ceasefire in recent days, Washington's representation in the Security Council vetoed three resolutions referring to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in the last six months, despite to have promoted another that was vetoed by China and Russia, which claimed that it was a diffuse proposal. Now, something similar could happen with Washington's request for the Palestinian State.
If accepted as a member state with full rights in the United Nations, the Palestinians would be able to consummate their historic struggle to be recognized by the international community as a formal State, since the only ones that can be members of the organization are consolidated States.
The above would empower the Palestinian people with national sovereignty, which would facilitate the humanitarian entry of the United Nations into their territories, in addition to complicating Israel's actions within the Gaza Strip or the occupied West Bank.
The settlement of the Palestinian State would possibly also give rise to a peace process led by international forces, as happened in East Timor, which could finally lead to a definitive ceasefire within the territory, as well as the end of attacks on civilian areas, facts for which Israel faces a lawsuit for genocide in the International Court of Justice, the legal entity of the UN.
Meanwhile, the deliberation process within the Security Council has a start date, and it will not be until after a few weeks that the world will be able to see if the international community finally gives its endorsement for a State called Palestine to be part of the UN.
With EFE, Reuters and local media
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