April 18, 2024 (EIRNS)—At 5 p.m. EDT today the United Nations Security Council held its vote on Palestine’s request to become a full member state in the United Nations. The overwhelming majority, 12 nations from all parts of the world—Algeria, France, Slovenia and Malta, Guyana and Ecuador, Sierra Leone and Mozambique, Japan and the Republic of Korea, Russia and China—voted in favor. Two abstained, the U.K. and Switzerland. The United States, however, once again, cast its veto, shooting down the effort to shift the region back towards the path to peace by recognizing Palestine as a member of the United Nations Organization.
Algeria, which had introduced the resolution for acceptance of Palestine’s request, addressed the Council before the vote, speaking in the name of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic States, and the Non-Aligned Movement, all of which endorsed the resolution. The time has come to welcome Palestine into the United Nations; failure to do so would be a blow to peace, and bring shame upon those who opposed it, the Algerian representative warned.
U.S. shame resounded in many of the statements made by each member of the Council following the vote. Russia’s Ambassador Nebenzia welcomed that the majority of the international community had made the right choice for justice, noting that the U.S., however, had demonstrated its view of the Palestinians, with its fifth veto since October. He warned that the U.S. is not acting in a manner worthy of a great power, choosing a direct path towards a slide into war across the region.
China called it a sad day, because of the U.S. veto. The veto, furthermore, was based on disingenuous claims that there should be no rush to action—after decades!—on the grounds that the Palestinians do not have the capacity to govern themselves, while refusing to mention Israel’s settlement policy to deny them that capacity. If the Israelis oppose Palestinian statehood, let them just say so, without making up excuses that insult the Palestinians and rub salt in their wounds.
