18- April-2024- News Agencies ” The US again exercises its veto power in the UN Security Council to kill Palestine’s widely supported bid for full UN membership.

US deputy ambassador to the UN speaks after the vote

Robert Wood says the United States “has worked vigorously and with determination to support Palestinian statehood in the context of a comprehensive peace agreement that would permanently resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

“Since the attacks of October 7, President Biden has been clear that sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution with Israel’s security guarantee,” he said after he raised his hand to vote against and veto the resolution supporting full membership for Palestine at the UN.

“There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state,” Wood continued.

He said that “there are unresolved questions as to whether the applicant meets the criteria to be considered a state”.

“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas, a terrorist organisation, is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” he said.

US stops UN from recognising a Palestinian state through membership

The US has vetoed a draft resolution that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations”.

Britain and Switzerland abstained, while the remaining 12 council members voted yes.

Russia slams US for rejecting Palestine’s bid for full UN membership

Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia has spoken in favour of granting Palestine full membership to the Security Council, saying “an absolute majority of the global community” also supports it.

By exercising its veto, the US has demonstrated “what they really think of the Palestinians”, Nebenzia told the UNSC.

Washington thinks “they do not deserve to have their own state”, and it only realises “the interest of Israel”, he said.

Nebenzia said the US is turning a blind eye to the “crimes of Israel” against civilians in Gaza, as well as the continuation of the illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

“The aim is to break the Palestinians’s will, to force them once and for all to submit to the occupying power, to turn them into servants and second-class persons, and perhaps, to once and for all force them out of their native territory,” he said.

However, he said, “that policy is only having an opposite impact”.

‘Unfair, unethical and unjustified’: Palestine responds to US veto

The Palestinian presidency has condemned the US veto of the Security Council resolution that recommended full UN membership for a Palestinian state.

The presidency said in a statement the US veto was “unfair, unethical and unjustified”.

Egypt expresses ‘deep regret’ over UNSC vote

Egypt has expressed “deep regret” over the inability of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution recognising a Palestinian state through full UN membership.

In a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry said approving Palestine’s bid to become a full UN member is a vital step and “is an inherent right of the Palestinian people”.

It also said preventing Palestine from gaining full UN membership is a move that is “not consistent with the legal and historical responsibility” of the international community, which needs to aid all parties in reaching a “final and just solution to the Palestinian issue”.

UN resolution was a ‘shameful proposal’: Israeli FM

Israel Katz commended the United States for vetoing the UNSC resolution, which he labelled a “shameful proposal” in a post on X.

“It is outrageous that even half a year after the October 7 massacre, the UN Security Council failed to condemn Hamas[‘s] horrific crimes,” he wrote.

“Israel will continue to fight until the fall of Hamas and the release of all 133 Israeli abductees,” he said.

As we have been reporting, the US used its veto on a draft resolution that would have recommended to the UN General Assembly that “Israel will continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed and all 133 hostages in Gaza are released” after 12 council members voted yes.

Police crack down on Gaza protest at Columbia University

Local media and social media users are reporting that the New York City Police Department has stormed the campus of Columbia University, where students have been camped out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding that the institution divest from Israel.

Photos show the police on campus a short while ago, and video verified by Al Jazeera shows arrests being made.

University administrators told students on Wednesday to remove a protest camp on campus and called in police a day later.

This week, leaders from Columbia University appeared before a committee in the US Congress to face questions about alleged anti-Semitism on campus. The hearing was a sequel of sorts to a similar panel held in December, featuring the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).