At UN debate, India backs full membership of Palestine

NEW DELHI: After the US last month vetoed a resolution in the Security Council seeking full membership of the UN for Palestine, India Wednesday backed Palestine’s bid, expressing hope the endeavour will soon get endorsed. Palestine is currently a ``permanent observer state’’ at the UN with no power to vote on resolutions and decisions.
A full membership will allow the global body to recognise a Palestinian state.The US, which supports a 2-state solution, had vetoed the resolution in the Council, saying its vote did not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead was an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties. While the UK and Switzerland had abstained, the 12 remaining members had voted in favour.
Participating in a debate on the use of veto, the Indian ambassador, Ruchira Kamboj, noted that Palestine’s application for membership at the UN was not approved by the Security Council because of the US veto.
``I would like to state here at the very outset that in keeping with India’s longstanding position, we hope that this would be reconsidered in due course, and that Palestine’s endeavour to become a member of the UN will get endorsed,’’ said Kamboj, while announcing India’s intentions of participating actively in an emergency special session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on the same issue.
The Security Council resolution would have allowed the UNGA, UN’S most widely represented body, to vote for Palestine’s full membership. Israel has said nothing exemplifies the UN’s ``rotten values’’ more than the advancement of a Palestinian statehood.
While espousing the Palestinian cause in the UN, India has for long strongly backed the Palestinian application for membership of the UN in the Security Council. India co-sponsored and supported the 2012 resolution in the UNGA on enhancing Palestine’s status from ‘Non-Member Observer Entity’ to ‘Non-Member Observer State’ in the UNGA.
In 2011, then PM Manmohan Singh had said in a speech at the UNGA that India was looking forward to ``welcoming Palestine as an equal member of the United Nations’’. The same assurance was given to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when he visited India next year.
The top Indian diplomat at the UN also backed the Security Council’s adoption of resolution 2728 in March demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan. She said it is imperative that humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is scaled up immediately in order to avert a further deterioration in the situation. ``We urge all parties to come together in this endeavour,’’ she said. While reiterating India’s unequivocal condemnation of the terror attacks in Israel on October 7, Kamboj also underscored that international law and international humanitarian law must be respected by everyone under all circumstances.