Dennis Francis, president of the UN General Assembly, announced through his spokesperson on April 26, that the UNGA will resume its tenth emergency special session (ESS) on May 10, following the U.S. veto in April of a Security Council resolution calling for Palestine’s admission to the UN as a full state member. The meeting was requested by Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Uganda, in their respective capacities as chairs of the Arab Group, of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement. Palestine’s Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour said he hoped that the UNGA would ask the Security Council to reconsider the membership issue at the ESS.
Yesterday, at a General Assembly meeting held to discuss the matter, Mansour reported that the matter will be brought before the May 10 meeting and expressed the hope that the UNGA, which represents “the international community,” will “unequivocally support the admission of the State of Palestine to the UN, and called on the Security Council to reconsider our application for admission favorably,” Xinhua reported him saying. UN rules state that the Security Council must recommend admission of new members, before any UNGA vote on the matter; but if the UNSC doesn’t recommend the application or postpones consideration of it, then the Security Council must submit a special report to the General Assembly, which, in turn, can ask the Security Council to reconsider.
