UN Votes Symbolically In Favor Of Palestinian Membership

United Nations, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th May, 2024) The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to grant the Palestinians additional rights in the global body and backed their drive for full membership, which is blocked by the United States.

Israel's UN ambassador Gilad Erdan reacted angrily to the largely symbolic vote, while Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said it was historic.

With the war in Gaza raging, the Palestinians in April relaunched a request dating back to 2011 to become full members of the United Nations, where their current status is that of a "nonmember observer state."

To succeed, the initiative needed a UN Security Council green light and then a two-thirds majority vote in the General Assembly.

But the United States -- one of five veto-holding members on the Security Council and Israel's closest ally -- blocked it on April 18.

Before Friday's vote, Palestinian ambassador Mansour said "I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, but never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, an historic one."

"The day will come where Palestine will take its rightful place among the community of free nations," he added.

The resolution gives the Palestinians "additional rights and privileges" starting in the next session of the General Assembly, in September.