‘State of Palestine’ could be recognized by UN General Assembly on Friday

UAE expected to submit resolution to upgrade member status

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The United Arab Emirates is expected to submit a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to recognize the “State of Palestine” this Friday, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday morning.

According to the draft of the resolution: “Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter and should therefore be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”

The text also affirms “the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine.”

Currently, the Palestinian delegation only has observer status in UNGA. The UAE’s resolution is expected to receive majority support in the assembly, where around 140 nations have already independently recognized a Palestinian state in resolutions that cannot be vetoed.

However, the only way to become a full member state of the UN is through a vote in the Security Council, where the United States has blocked similar advances in the past, most recently in April.

“Recognizing a Palestinian State after October 7 means rewarding Hamas for murdering over 1,000 Israelis. It means giving a prize to the Iranian Regime,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz charged in a post on 𝕏.

“The only way to promote peace is through direct negotiations, within the framework of a regional normalization process,” he added.

Israeli officials strongly rejected the possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state over the past months, after the Palestinian Authority (PA) renewed its push to reach full recognition in the UN, as well as by individual states following Hamas’ invasion and massacre last October.

Oren Marmorstein, Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman, wrote last week that “every statement about the possibility that European countries will recognize a Palestinian state is a prize for Hamas terrorists.”

“The world including Europe should currently focus solely on the immediate release of the 133 women and men taken hostage and on the destruction of the Hamas terror organization. Anyone promoting a different agenda at this time is playing into the hands of Hamas and is hindering efforts to reach a deal on releasing the hostages and humanitarian relief,” Marmorstein added.

In February, the Israeli government rejected unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by other nations in a rare unanimous vote, following reports that the Biden administration was weighing such a move to pressure Israel in the hostage release negotiations with Hamas.

“Israel utterly rejects international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. A settlement, if it is to be reached, will come about solely through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” the declaration read.

“Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7th massacre would be a massive and unprecedented reward to terrorism and would prevent any future peace settlement.”

The decision to reject the proposal was agreed upon by all Israeli cabinet members, including the more left-leaning National Unity party ministers like Gadi Eisenkot.

The first bid for recognition of statehood in the UN was launched by PA President Mahmoud Abbas in 2011. With a two-thirds majority, the UNGA gave “State of Palestine” the status of a non-member observer state the following year, in 2012.

Since then, the PA has been allowed to participate in UN forums and sign treaties, including the Rome Statute, which gave it access to the International Criminal Court.