UN Security Council fails to grant full UN membership to Palestine

WORLD, April 12 (YPA) – Members of the UN Security Council failed to reach a consensus Thursday on a bid by Palestinians for full UN membership.

“There was no consensus” during a closed-door meeting, said Maltese Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, who holds the council’s rotating presidency for April.

However, two-thirds of the members were in favor of full membership, she said, without specifying which countries.

While the ad hoc committee can only move forward by consensus — loosely speaking, when everyone is in agreement — any Security Council member may now put forth a resolution for vote on the matter.

According to diplomatic sources, a vote could be held April 18, brought forth by Algeria which represents Arab nations on the Council.

The Palestinian representative wrote to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday to request for renewed consideration of its Sept. 23, 2011, application for UN membership. The secretary-general transmitted the request to the Security Council on Wednesday.

Rule 59 of the Security Council’s provisional rules of procedure states that unless the Security Council decides otherwise, the application shall be referred by the President to a committee of the Security Council upon which each member of the Security Council shall be represented.

Since 1971, the Council has generally chosen to refer membership applications to its standing Committee, but in the past, it has also made direct recommendations on admission without referral to the Committee.

E.M