UNITED NATIONS: A Palestinian bid to win full membership of the United Nations came one step closer to collapse Friday when a Security Council committee failed to reach agreement on the issue.

The development left it up to Palestinians, who have so far been unable to secure the nine votes needed to pass a Security Council resolution favoring their U.N. bid, to decide whether or not to call a vote on their application.

That would be a symbolic move since the United States has vowed to veto the application. Washington would not need to use that power if the Palestinians failed to obtain nine supporters in a vote, depriving them of at least a moral victory.

The United Nations currently considers Palestine an observer “entity.” President Mahmoud Abbas applied on Sept. 23 for full U.N. membership for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

A report adopted Friday by the Security Council’s admissions committee, which includes all 15 council members, detailed the deadlock among council members.

It says the body was “unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council,” without whose approval no membership bid can succeed.

Portuguese Ambassador Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, council president for November, said the council will look at the report and discuss any future initiatives.

In practice, the next step depends on the Palestinians, who gave no immediate indication of what they would choose to do, saying they had to discuss the matter with other Arab leaders.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2011/Nov-12/153854-un-security-council-fails-to-reach-agreement-on-palestinian-bid.ashx#ixzz1dUI6iHhJ
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)