The U.S. on Thursday vetoed a United Nations resolution that would have granted statehood to Gaza. It was intended to recognize the home of Hamas terrorists and Palenstinians who support them as an independent state.
The 15-member Security Council vote resulted in 12 nations in favor, two abstaining, and the lone U.S. veto.
Without the dissent from Washington, Gaza would have been recognized as a country independent from Israel. There was outrage in the Arab world and other supporters of Hamas, but State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said later that the resolution would not solve the current crisis.
Patel told reporters, “It remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was predictably disappointed by the U.S. veto.
He declared the Israeli retaliation for the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 only increased the urgency of a “lasting peace” and a “two-state solution.”
The United States effectively stopped the United Nations from recognizing a Palestinian state by casting a veto in the Security Council to deny Palestinians full membership of the world body.https://t.co/stWtKoIdaZ https://t.co/3pD3wk3LdN
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) April 19, 2024
Security Council protocol calls for nine members to vote affirmative for a resolution to pass. However, any one of the five permanent nations, which include the U.S., China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom, may veto.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, even as Hamas terrorists are sheltered in Gaza, called the veto “unfair, unethical and unjustified.”
The area has been at war for six months since the Oct. 7 atrocity during which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. It is striking that the push for statehood came at such a time and without negotiations with Israel on a two-state solution.
As critics often ask, why would Tel Aviv assent to the creation of a terrorist nation at its doorstep?
Palestinians were granted observer status as a non-state in 2012 by the U.N. To become a full member requires approval by the Security Council and then two-thirds of the General Assembly.
The U.K. and Switzerland abstained. British U.N. Ambassador Barbara told the council that London believes “such recognition of Palestinian statehood should not come at the start of a new process, but it doesn’t have to be at the very end of the process.”
The Palestinian Authority already enjoys limited self-rule in the disputed West Bank.
