Palestine's UN membership bid referred to committee

Palestine's UN membership bid referred to committee

2011-09-29 05:28:05 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Wednesday confirmed that the President of its Security Council has referred Palestine's application to become a UN Member State to the committee which deals with the admission of new members.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas submitted the application almost a week ago to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who then forwarded it to the 15-member body. The Council has now decided to refer the application to its Committee on the Admission of New Members, which is expected to consider the application on Friday.

In his submission to the Secretary-General, Abbas argued that Palestine submitted the application for full membership "based on the Palestinian people's natural, legal and historic rights" and based on Resolution 181 adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 1947.

During his address to the Assembly last Friday, Abbas said that Israeli Government policies were responsible "for the continued failure of the successive international attempts to salvage the peace process."

In addition, Abbas cited the construction of settlements in the West Bank, the refusal of permits for Palestinians to build in East Jerusalem, and the extensive number of military checkpoints limiting Palestinian movement and the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip as examples of such policies.

"All of these actions taken by Israel in our country are unilateral actions and are not based on any earlier agreements. Indeed, what we witness is a selective application of the agreements aimed at perpetuating the occupation," Abbas stated.

Over the past two years, Abbas claimed, Palestinian authorities have worked hard to implement a program of building up State institutions, as well as strengthening civil society, increasing government accountability and promoting the participation of women in public life.

Any application for UN membership is considered by the Security Council which decides whether or not to recommend admission to the 193-member General Assembly, which then has to adopt a resolution for the admission of a Member State.

Palestine currently has observer status at the UN.

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