As Palestine applies for full UN membership, what’s in the way?

from al Jazeera

History set to be repeated as the US prepares to wield veto, insisting Palestine must negotiate statehood with Israel first.

The UN Security Council on Monday asked its membership committee to review the Palestinian Authority’s application to be made a full member state of the United Nations. The PA is currently a non-member observer state like the Vatican.

The application, which coincided with six months of Israel’s war on Gaza, revives a longstanding bid. Malta’s UN ambassador Vanessa Frazier, the UNSC’s current president, said on Monday that the body would make a formal decision in April.

Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour said that all Palestine wants is to be treated as “equals to other nations and states”. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, and a state of near-famine prevails over large parts of the besieged Palestinian territory.

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