The United Nations General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the UN Security Council to reconsider the request of the Palestinians that Palestine become the 194th member of the United Nations.
Although the US can still veto Palestine’s UN membership in any UN Security Council vote on the issue, as it did on April 18, the result of the latest UN General Assembly vote reflects the wider support for full membership of Palestine in the UN, which means greater pressure on Washington not to act against the will of the world.
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said on Friday that for the US to support Palestinian statehood, direct negotiations must guarantee Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state and that Palestinians can live in peace in a state of their own.
But by saying that the US side just pretends to be blind to the fact that it is the Israeli side that has been recklessly killing the Palestinian people on their land. And even if the Hamas Oct 7 attack is taken into account, what the Israel has done in the region since the end of World War II must also be borne in mind as well, which clearly shows the right and wrong of the Palestinian question.
The world can see clearly that the statehood of Israel has not only been fully guaranteed but also the country has prospered. In the process, it has continuously expanded its influence to the Palestinian side beyond the 1967 borders, and even invaded neighboring countries, including Syria and Lebanon.
Over the years, Israel, as the occupying power, has technically eroded the foundation of the two-state solution. The current conflict, which has lasted for more than seven months, is more likely to completely ruin the prospects of the two-state solution agreed by the international community.
So it is not the security or future of the Israeli people that has become a question of grave concern, but that of the Palestinians, whose survival in Gaza has even become a question today thanks to Israel’s aggression, which has been indulged and supported by Washington.
That Israel intensified its attack on Rafah on Saturday, with the US’ acquiescence, in response to the Palestine-related vote in the UN General Assembly the previous day, presents a grave provocation to the common will of the international community, and also serves to put an end to its peace talks with Hamas in Cairo that has lasted for days, in which Hamas made big concessions for a cease-fire.
The US should put aside its own interests and work for world peace and humanity, undertaking its global responsibility. The UN Security Council is a platform to resolve issues and not create divisions or hijack the global peace agenda for one’s own narrow ends by abusing its veto power.