US vetoes Palestinian bid for full UN member state

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Unites States blocked the United Nations from adopting a resolution to support a status that Palestinians had long sought at the world’s body.

The United Nations Security Council met in New York on Thursday to address issues in the Middle East, including the Palestinian bid for statehood.

The US move quashed an effort by Palestinian allies to get the world body to back the effort.

The vote was 12 in favor of the resolution and one — the United States — opposed, with abstentions from Britain and Switzerland.

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, had described the bid for full-member status as an effort “to take our rightful place among the community of nations.”

After the vote, Mr. Mansour, visibly upset, delivered a passionate address asserting the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

“Our right to self determination is a natural right — a historical right — to live in our homeland Palestine as an independent state that is free and that is sovereign,” he said.

Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said after the vote: “The shameful proposal was rejected. Terrorism will not be rewarded.”

The Security Council has consistently called for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a result that has failed to materialize during negotiations between the two sides.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said in Tokyo on Friday morning that the new resolution would not have brought a two-state solution closer.

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