UNITED NATIONS, April 4. /TASS/. Russia supports Palestine’s decision to resume the process of joining the United Nations as a full-fledged member, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.
"The Palestinians requested the presidency of the UN Security Council to resume the process of considering their membership bid, launched back in 2011. A long-overdue decision that we support by all means," the diplomat wrote on his Telegram channel.
"The process consists of several stages. Last time it was ‘suspended’ by the US. We’ll see what they will do now, in the face of total destruction of Gaza," the Russian diplomat added.
Permanent Representative of Malta Vanessa Frazier earlier told reporters that Malta, which holds the rotating UN Security Council presidency this month, had submitted to other members Palestine’s request for full membership in the United Nations.
The letter by Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour, obtained by TASS, requests "that renewed consideration be given to this application by the Security Council during April 2024." Apart from that, the Palestinian diplomatic mission attached to its request letters of support from the group of Arab Nations at the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement. Another annex to the document contains the list of 140 countries that have already recognized Palestine as an independent country.
Palestine requested joining the United Nations as a full-fledged member back in 2011, but later decided to remain in its current status of permanent observer. According to Mansour, the goal was to persuade swaying nations that Palestine is worthy of becoming a full-fledged member of the global organization. Countries with permanent observer status are allowed to attend the majority of UN events and have access to practically all documents, but have no right to vote. The only other country with the permanent observer status at this point is the Holy See (Vatican).
The UN membership is granted by the General Assembly, following the recommendation of the UN Security Council. The membership bid is to be approved by nine out of the Security Council’s 15 members, provided that none of the permanent members (United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States and France) exercise their veto right. After that, the matter goes to the UN General Assembly, where it needs to win the support from at least two thirds of members to be approved.