The United Nations General Assembly is set to back a Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member by recognising it as qualified to join.
On Friday, May 10, the UN said it would send Palentine’s application to the U.N. Security Council to “reconsider the matter favourably.”
The Palestinians are reviving their bid to become a full U.N. member, a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state after the United States vetoed it in the 15-member U.N. Security Council last month.
The vote by the 193-member General Assembly on Friday will act as a global survey of support for the Palestinians.
The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012.
An application to become a full U.N. member first needs to be approved by the Security Council and then the General Assembly.
But while the General Assembly alone cannot grant full U.N. membership, the draft resolution being put to a vote on Friday will give the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 – like a seat among the U.N. members in the assembly hall but it will not be granted a vote in the body.
The push by the war-torn country for full U.N. membership comes seven months into a war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the U.N. considers to be illegal.
