Iran attack on Israel, live: China calls for recognition of Palestinian state. Last Minute

Voting on Palestine’s UN membership may be postponed till Friday

The UN Security Council voted for Palestine’s full membership in the UN (and not just as an observer), which was scheduled for today, There may be a delay till Friday, According to several diplomatic sources.

Last-minute negotiations among member states, promoted mainly by the United States, postponed the vote from earlier in the morning to Thursday afternoon and now possibly to Friday. Despite the fact that today is the day many foreign ministers met at the United Nations in anticipation of this crucial vote.

Just yesterday, the diplomacy heads of Iran, Jordan, Algeria, Malta (the current President of the Council) and Spain arrived at or confirmed their presence at the UN, and Other ministers, mainly Arabs, are expected to appear in the debate today

And take the floor.

The Council has before it a very brief proposal submitted by Algeria on behalf of the Arab Group in the United Nations, in which it recommends to the General Assembly accept the Palestinian state And thus fulfills a demand that Palestine first presented in 2011, without success.

resolution mechanism

To approve a proposal, there must be nine favorable votes from Council members (out of a total of fifteen) and no veto from the five permanent members (United States, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom,

palestinian He has well calculated the moment of presenting it, Since there is hardly any composition of the Council – where ten posts rotate – so suited to its purpose.

Thus, the countries that represent Europe – a continent that is deeply divided on this issue – are on this occasion Clearly in line with Palestinian demands,

As is the case with Malta and Slovenia, countries that already recognize the Palestinian state, while Switzerland, loyal to its neutral tradition, can abstain, but will not vote against it.

The three African countries, which are born out of the process of decolonization, will certainly vote in favor of the Palestinians; Between Latin Americans and Caribbean Guyana has displayed a clearly pro-Palestinian stance in its latest interventions, Whereas Ecuador is plucking leaves and is not untouched by pressure from Washington.

It is on the ‘Asian side’ of the council where Japan and Korea, two staunch allies of the United States, could favor it and oppose Palestinian membership, but even in this case the US would not have the six votes needed to block it. Will add. Process. The United States does not want to openly announce that it will veto the resolution Tries to scratch those precious six blocker votes until the last hour, But no one doubts that he will impose a veto if necessary.

Washington’s position, matching Israel’s position point for point, is the declaration of a Palestinian state This cannot be done unilaterally but should be the result of negotiations between both parties.

This did not stop him from rhetorically declaring that the conflict in the Middle East would be resolved only if ‘Two-State Solution’Without putting that theory into practice.