Star Metro - UN Security Council set to vote on Palestinian membership

The vote comes more than six months into Israel's military offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory, in retaliation for the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel.

"Granting Palestine full membership at the United Nations will lift some of the historic injustice that succeeding Palestinian generations have been subjected to," special Palestinian Authority envoy Ziad Abu Amr told the Council.

"It will open wide prospects before a true peace based on justice."

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi chimed in: "There is no security as long as the Israeli injustice continues to deny the humanity of the Palestinian people and the right to life, freedom, dignity, security and statehood."

- 'Peace-loving -

Any request to become a UN member state must first earn a recommendation from the Security Council -- meaning at least nine positive votes out of 15, and no vetoes -- and then be endorsed by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.

The Council will consider a brief draft resolution presented by Algeria, which "recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations."

But the United States, Israel's main ally, has not hesitated in the past to use its veto to protect Israel, and has not hidden its lack of enthusiasm for Palestinian UN membership -- meaning the initiative appears doomed.

For Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group, "a US veto is absolutely certain."

Gown told AFP he also expected an abstention from Britain, and possibly Japan and South Korea.

Washington says its position has not changed since 2011, when the Palestinians first sought membership: that the UN is not the venue for recognition of a Palestinian state, which must be the result of a peace deal with Israel.

Israel's UN envoy Gilad Erdan slammed the fact that the Council was even reviewing the matter, calling it "immoral" and saying: "Membership in the United Nations is open to all peace-loving states. Peace-loving -- what a joke."

Israel's government opposes a two-state solution, defended by most of the international community including the United States.

The majority of the UN's 193 member states (137, according to a Palestinian count) have meanwhile unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state.

The last veto of a resolution for UN membership dates back to 1976, when the United States blocked Vietnam's entry.

- 'On a precipice' -

Ahead of the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres painted a dark picture of the situation in the Middle East, saying the region was "on a precipice."

"Recent days have seen a perilous escalation -- in words and deeds," Guterres told a high-level Security Council meeting with several foreign ministers present, including from Jordan and Iran.

"One miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable -- a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved," he said, calling on all parties to exercise "maximum restraint."

Guterres again condemned Iran's missile and drone attack on Israel over the weekend, which came in the wake of a strike on its consulate in Damascus widely blamed on Israel.

The UN chief also said Israel's military offensive in Gaza had created a "humanitarian hellscape" for civilians trapped there, calling on Israel to do more to allow aid to flow into the besieged territory.

At least 33,970 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.

"It is high time to end the bloody cycle of retaliation," Guterres said.

"It is high time to stop."

S.Lapointe--SMC