Palestine to seek full UN membership, envoy says

Palestine will seek full UN membership and may ask member states to sign a statement welcoming its admission, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations said yesterday.

“We will intensify these discussions and we will use a variety of things, including we might have a statement and solicit signatures from member states welcoming and supporting the admission of the State of Palestine to membership before in fact going to the (UN) Security Council and to submit a resolution calling for recommendation to admit the state of Palestine as a member of the UN,” Riyad Mansour told reporters in New York.

His remarks came a day after Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, voted 99-11 to back a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reject any unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood.

“It’s only us, the Palestinian people, who will determine our right to self-determination, including the independence of our state. We will not negotiate that principle with anyone and we will not ask for permission from anyone to do so,” Mansour said.

Palestine will expedite the process in the UN General Assembly of asking the international community to take practical measures to force Israel to lift its siege on Gaza, such as asking countries not to send or sell weapons and ammunition to Israel, or asking them not to give visas to settlers, he added.

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The State of Palestine was accepted as an observer state of the UN General Assembly in 2012, allowing its envoy to participate in debates and UN organisations but without a vote.

According to the UN Charter, states are admitted to membership in the UN by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

“It was the international community that decided to create two states in Palestine since 1947. It is the duty of the international community along with the Palestinian people to complete that exercise by admitting the state of Palestine to membership,” Mansour said.

Instead of obeying the provisional orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Mansour said Israel is going further in denying Palestine, including its right to exercise self-determination.

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