Security Council fails to recommend full UN membership for State of Palestine

The Security Council has blocked Palestine’s bid to become a full member of the United Nations due to a United States veto on a draft resolution that would have recommended the granting of such status.

The proposal, submitted by Algeria, received 12 votes in favour, with the United States casting a negative vote and Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstaining.

A Council resolution requires at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes from its five permanent members — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States — to pass. The Algerian draft failed, owing to a negative vote cast by a permanent member.

In 2011, Palestine submitted an application to become a full UN Member State. Although that aspiration did not materialise, it obtained the status of a non-member observer State in November 2012 through an Assembly vote of 138 in favour to nine against, with 41 abstentions.