Updated | Palestine urges Security Council to approve its UN membership bid

Palestine made its plea to the Security Council on Thursday for full membership to the United Nations, insisting that it would alleviate the historic injustices faced by generations of Palestinians.

The special representative of the president of Palestine, Ziad Abu Amr, told the Security Council on Thursday that its membership in the UN would protect the two-state solution and Palestine’s legitimate right to an independent state.

“Granting Palestine full membership will lift some of the historic injustice that Palestinian generations have been subjected to,” he said.

Abu Amr questioned how granting Palestine UN membership would damage any prospects of peace between Palestinians and Israelies.

“We ask this question specifically to the US and other countries that oppose granting Palestine full membership, while they recognise Israel, the other party in the conflict, and has granted Israel full membership in the UN.”

“It is high time for the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and give justice to the Palestinian people by granting the resolution to give Palestine membership to the UN. Those trying to hinder the adoption of the resolution are not helping the propsects of peace between Palestine and Israel, and prospects of peace in the Middle East in general.”

READ ALSO: UN Security Council vote on Palestinian membership headed for veto

Gilad Erdan, the permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations, slammed the Security Council for dedicating time towards this resolution.

“How detached from reality can this council be to dedicate its time and resources to support a resolution that is so disconnected from the reality on the ground?” he told the members of the council.

One of the requirements for any country to become a member of the UN is that it is a peace-loving state. Israel insists that Palestine does not fulfill this requirement.

“This is a genocide-loving entity that doesn’t deserve any status here. But sadly, to some members here, the inability to meet criteria simply doesn’t matter.”

He insisted that, if the Security Council were to vote for Palestine’s membership to the UN, it would be dubbed the “terror council”.

The resolution on Palestine’s membership to the UN was submitted to the Security Council by Algeria.

Algerian foreign minister Ahmed Attaf said the council has a historic responsibility to act immediately and impose a two-state solution and safeguard the creation of a Palestinian state. “It will consolidate the two-state solution and protect it from threats that seek to undermine it, destroy it, or bury it altogether.”