No UNSC 'consensus' on Palestine's full UN membership

The UN Security Council [UNSC], which revived Palestine's hopes of joining the United Nations as a full member, has been unable to reach a consensus on the issue, the Council's presidency said.

"There was no consensus" during a closed-door meeting, said Maltese Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, who holds the council's rotating presidency for April.

"However, the majority were very clearly in favour to move on with membership."

While the ad hoc committee can only move forward by consensus — loosely speaking, when everyone is in agreement — any Security Council member may now put forth a resolution for a vote on the matter.

According to diplomatic sources, a vote could be held on April 18, brought forth by Algeria, which represents Arab nations on the Council.

Even if the matter were to receive the necessary nine of 15 votes, observers predict a veto from the United States.

Washington maintains the United Nations is not the place for hashing out Palestinian statehood, which it stresses should be the result of an agreement between Israel and the Palestine.

"All we ask for is to take our rightful place among the community of nations," Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters earlier this week.

Seeking membership for years

Palestine, which has had observer status at the world body since 2012, has lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood. About 72 percent of the UN member states already recognise Palestine.

Any request to become a UN member state must first pass through the Security Council — where Israel's ally, the United States, wields a veto — and then be endorsed by the General Assembly.

In light of Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza, Palestinians revived a 2011 UN membership application last week, prompting the Security Council to launch a formal review process.

Israel has killed more than 33,500 people and wounded over 76,000 in Gaza, causing mass destruction and displacement and bringing the Palestinian population of more than 2.4 million toward famine in the enclave.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to do more to prevent starvation crisis in Gaza. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recently there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.