At 3 p.m. on Friday, the 15-member council will vote on a draft resolution recommending to the full 193-member UN General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations.” A Council resolution needs at least nine votes with no vetoes in order to pass. Diplomats have said the resolution is likely to have the support of as many as 13 Council member nations, increasing the likelihood the U.S., Israel’s staunchest global ally, would use its veto power. Should the Council approve the application, it would move to the General Assembly where a two-thirds majority would be required to accept Palestine as the global body’s 194th state. Earlier this month, the Palestinian Authority revived its membership application, which was first made to the UN in September 2011. The Security Council never voted on it, while the U.S. said it would veto any resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood. On April 8, the Council agreed to reconsider the application with no member-nations objecting. The following year, the UN General Assembly voted to grant Palestine non-member observer state status, which allows representatives to participate in UN sessions but not vote on resolutions. “We sincerely hope after 12 years since we changed our status to an observer state, that the Security Council will elevate itself to implementing the global consensus on the two-state solution by admitting the state of Palestine for full membership,” Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, said the day the application was resubmitted. The U.S. has said that the establishment of a Palestinian state should be done through direct negotiations between affected parties and not at the UN. "We do not see that doing a resolution in the Security Council will necessarily get us to a place where we can find ... a two-state solution moving forward," U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on April 17. She added that President Joe Biden has categorically stated that Washington supported a two-state solution and was working on the ground to have that implemented as soon as possible, according to Reuters.The United Nations Security Council is set to vote this week on a request for Palestinians to receive full UN membership.
