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NEW YORK CITY: Giving Palestine full member status at the UN would be a “practical” step that could preserve the two-state solution and help reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, according to Riyad Mansour, ambassador Palestinian before the UN. .

Mansour began consultations this year with members of the UN Security Council to push through a resolution to elevate Palestine from its current status as an observer state in the global organization and recognize it as a full member.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News at the UN headquarters in New York, Mansour, whose official title is Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said that his initiative is anchored in the “natural and legal right of Palestine to become a full member. in (the) UN system”.

The search for a state is even more urgent, he said, amid Israeli attempts to unilaterally undermine the prospect of a reasonable solution that could bring about an independent Palestinian state, by “creating not just a one-state reality (but) a apartheid reality. ”

Mansour said he has already won enough support from Security Council members, including votes from Ireland, Albania and Norway, to secure his recommendation that Palestine be granted full membership in the General Assembly.

Paulina Kubiak Greer, spokesperson for the president of the General Assembly, told Arab News: “Article 4 of the UN Charter states that membership is a decision of the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The General Assembly cannot decide on membership without the recommendation of the Security Council.”

Although granting Palestine full member status would be consistent with the current US administration seeking “practical steps” to achieve a two-state solution, Mansour said Washington “is not enthusiastic about the idea.”

He said: “I’ve told Linda[Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the UN]in more than one meeting, that if you don’t like our idea, put your alternative on the table: a practical idea to protect and protect the two-state solution. But if you tell me you don’t like my idea and you’re not proposing an alternative solution, that’s unacceptable.”

Mansour believes the reluctance in Washington is related to its preference for a “negotiated two-state solution,” a path Mansour said the Palestinians continue to support.

The Palestinians “have no objection to negotiating with anyone, including the Israeli side (provided the talks take place) on the basis of international law and global consensus, including the Arab Peace Initiative, if the Israeli side is willing to do it”.

The Arab Peace Initiative is a proposal initiated by Saudi Arabia to end the Arab-Israeli conflict that was initially endorsed by the Arab League in 2002. It includes the offer of normalization of relations between the Arab states and Israel in exchange for a withdrawal all of Israel. of the Occupied Territories, a “just solution” to the Palestinian refugee problem and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Mansour thanked the Arab countries for standing united in support of Palestine at the UN and never failing to vote for him. In particular, he highlighted the role played by Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia has a very, very important and powerful position,” he said. “We are grateful for the fact that the Saudis do not deviate from supporting the rights of the Palestinian people. And they do not deviate from honoring and respecting the Arab Peace Initiative, which they launched 20 years ago at the Arab summit in Beirut.

“We are also grateful for Saudi Arabia when, very clearly and courageously, at the Jeddah summit, in the presence of President Joe Biden, it said that the question of Palestine is a central issue for Arab countries and that the Arab Peace Initiative is still honor and respect. .

“These things for us constitute the essence of the Arab position (and) we expect nothing less from them.”

Mahmoud Abbas, the chairman of the Palestinian National Authority, recently intensified the push to gain full member status at the UN. Since the summer he has raised the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron and King Abdullah II of Jordan, and with Biden during the US president’s visit to Bethlehem in July.

“The key to peace and security in our region begins with the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Abbas told Biden at the time.

The Palestinian National Authority first applied for full UN membership status in 2011. He argued that the organization in 1947 adopted Resolution 181, which divided Palestinian land into two states, an act that effectively served as “the certificate of Israel’s birth.” He said the UN now has a “moral and historical duty” to save the chances for peace by issuing a similar birth certificate for Palestine.

The matter was referred to the Committee on the Admission of New Members for consideration, but opposition at the time from US President Barack Obama’s administration prevented the committee from issuing a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council.

In 2012, a majority in the General Assembly voted to elevate Palestine’s status from a mere “entity” to an observer state, the same status accorded to the Vatican; 138 countries voted in favour, nine against and 41 abstained.

The vote was largely symbolic, as observer states cannot vote on General Assembly resolutions, but it nonetheless led the Palestinians to join more than 100 international treaties and conventions as a state party.

These have allowed Palestinians, Mansour said, “to be part of humanity,” taking their place in the world and sharing their concerns.

The US authorities have tried to talk the Palestinians out of pursuing their efforts to gain full UN membership, repeating their same arguments that it would simply circumvent proper peace negotiations with Israel.

“The United States has been clear about our opposition to the Palestinian bid for full UN membership,” a US official told Arab News. “There are no shortcuts for the Palestinian state outside of direct negotiations between the parties.

“The United States is focused on trying to bring the Palestinians and Israelis closer together in pursuit of this goal of two states, for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security. The United States remains committed to a two-state solution. As President Biden said, along with President Abbas in July, “the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own that is independent, sovereign, viable and contiguous.”

“The only realistic path towards a comprehensive and lasting peace that ends this conflict permanently is through direct negotiations between the parties. As we have seen, these conditions are not yet in place for direct negotiations. That being said, the efforts of the United States are intended to establish such conditions.”

It’s a familiar argument that has been used by the US on previous occasions when the UN has taken steps that are seen as advancing Palestinian representation on the world stage. Washington described the 2012 resolution granting observer status to Palestine as “unfortunate and self-defeating” and a “big pronouncement that would soon fade.”

In the same vein, Washington also opposed a 2015 decision to allow Palestinians to fly their flag at the UN headquarters in New York. And when Palestine was admitted to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in 2011, the US Congress cut off all US funding for the agency. Former President Donald Trump went so far as to withdraw the United States entirely from UNESCO in 2019, accusing it of bias against Israel.

Although a Democratic-controlled Congress recently authorized the return of the United States to UNESCO, it was on the condition that Palestine not be granted membership in other UN bodies. US lawmakers have even enacted laws prohibiting funding of any UN agency that admits Palestine as a member.

“That offensive reaction means that even the small steps that the Palestinians are taking with this initiative, this momentum… I don’t want to say that they are afraid of our initiative, but they take it seriously,” Mansour said.

After experiencing years of alienation during the Trump administration, Mansour expressed gratitude to the Biden White House for restoring humanitarian funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and for taking “practical steps” to achieve peace.

But he lamented what he described as Biden’s reluctance to address the political dimensions of the issue, given that several promises, such as the reopening of the US consulate in East Jerusalem and the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington, remain unfulfilled.

“While we appreciate the economic and humanitarian aid, (we need) a political process to move (toward) the end of this occupation and update the global consensus on the two-state solution,” Mansour said.

“Regarding this issue, we see no progress and they keep telling us to wait. We have been waiting since the Nakba, almost 75 years. Waiting since the occupation of 1967, which is almost 55 years. How much longer do you want us to keep waiting?

“If (the Americans) didn’t have the veto power to stop us, we would have been a member state a long time ago.”