Palestine to apply for full-fledged UN membership next year

World November 05, 2014, 9:16

The vote on the resolution on the time framework for ending the Israeli occupation should be held in November

UNITED NATIONS, November 5. /TASS/. Palestine plans to submit an application in 2015 to obtain a status of a full-fledged UN member and expects that by late November the UN Security Council will vote on the resolution on the time framework for ending the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian UN envoy said on Wednesday.

“The vote on the resolution should be held this month. We hope to get the broadest support. Of course, we want the resolution to be adopted, but if someone uses their veto right, they will disturb the UN Security Council from meeting its commitments and opening the way towards reaching peace,” Riyad Mansour told TASS.

Palestine is not planning to wait until next year when one third of the UN Security Council will be renewed and Australia, Argentina, Luxemburg, South Korea and Rwanda will be replaced by Angola, Venezuela, Spain, Malaysia and New Zealand.

“We welcome the new members of the Council, but we have a new agenda for them which will be topical since January 1,” the diplomat said. “The first thing we are preparing is to submit our application to get a full-fledged membership [in the UN].”

Palestine got a status of a non-member observer state at the United Nations in late November 2012. It needs to receive a recommendation from the UN Security Council to get a full-fledged membership in the organization.

A total of 135 member states of the United Nations have recognized the State of Palestine by late October. Palestine was officially recognized as a sovereign state by the Soviet Union in November 1988.

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