Above photo: AP.
Israel’s ambassador strongly condemned ‘any action that improves’ the status of Palestinians at the UN.
Palestine was seated for the first time among UN member states on 10 September during the first session of the 79th General Assembly in New York.
Permanent Observer to Palestine at the UN, Riyad Mansour, was seated at a table labeled “State of Palestine” between Sri Lanka and Sudan. The seating was approved by UN General Assembly president Philemon Yang.
“This is not merely a procedural matter. This is a historic moment for us,” said Egyptian ambassador to the UN Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud.
Israel’s representative at the UN strongly denounced the seating of Palestine among the UN member states.
“Any decision and or action that improves the status of the Palestinians, either in the UN General Assembly or bilaterally, is currently a reward… for terrorism in general and the Hamas terrorists in particular,” Jonathan Miller, Deputy Ambassador of Israel to the UN, said.
In May, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of reconsidering Palestine’s full membership. The resolution also granted Palestine with additional participation rights. Israel also condemned the vote at the time.
The US had vetoed on 18 April a Security Council resolution on the recognition of Palestine as a full member state in the UN, coming after Ramallah relaunched its stalled bid for membership which began in 2011.
The resolution – put forth by Algeria – was widely supported, with 12 member states voting in favor of the resolution, including Japan, France, South Korea, Slovenia, Russia, and China. Switzerland and the UK abstained.
Washington’s stance has long been that statehood for Palestine only be achieved through direct agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, maintaining that it would support the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated settlement.
However, the Israeli Knesset passed a vote early on 18 July completely rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, including statehood as part of a future peace agreement.
Several countries, including Spain, Norway, and Ireland, recognized Palestine as a state in late May amid mounting criticism of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.
Israel revoked the diplomatic permits of eight Norwegian diplomats in August.
In June, Israel authorized five illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and approved sanctions against the Palestinian Authority (PA), with the Israeli finance ministry publicly announcing the move as retribution for international recognition of Palestine as a state.
“The Security Cabinet authorized one outpost for every country that unilaterally recognized Palestine as a state,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at the time.
Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, recently threatened to “break and dissolve” the PA if it moves forward with diplomatic measures at the UN to end Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state.