UN Security Council must approve Palestine's membership: Norway

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) – Norway has urged the United Nations Security Council to grant Palestine full membership status, saying the Nordic country will vote in favor when the General Assembly votes on the issue.

“Norway has made it very clear that it supports Palestine’s application for full membership status in the UN, and that Norway will vote in favor the day the General Assembly holds a vote on the application,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement issued late Friday.

The announcement comes after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Friday calling for the reevaluation of Palestine's UN membership bid and the grant of additional rights.

The US, Israel, Hungary, Argentina, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea all voted against it.

The resolution, spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates (on behalf of the Arab Group), passed with overwhelming support, with 143 member states voting in favor, nine against, and 25 abstentions.

Palestinian representatives may be elected to serve on various UN committees after UN General Assembly approval.

According to Eide, the vote reflected widespread global support for Palestine's full membership in the UN and a two-state solution.

“We are very pleased the resolution was adopted with 143 countries voting in favour. This is evidence of the increasing international support for the Palestinian people’s demand for a state of their own,” the Norwegian minister said.

The minister emphasized the need for a Palestinian state, saying it is essential to achieving the two-state solution envisioned in the UN's 1947 partition plan.

Norway also supported Palestine's admission to the UN as an observer state in 2012.

“It is highly significant that the resolution asserts that Palestine is fully qualified for UN membership and that it clearly recommends that the Security Council approves Palestine’s membership,” he said.

He emphasized that such a move would contribute to the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“We believe its adoption can help us move forward in the effort to find a political solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine,” he said.

In April, the UN Security Council voted on the application, and 12 Council members voted to accept Palestine as a full member, but the US vetoed it.

According to the latest casualty figures, nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and about 80,000 others injured in Israel’s war on Gaza, which has resulted in widespread destruction and shortages of necessities.

International organizations, including UN agencies, have demanded a cease-fire in Gaza and increased humanitarian aid access to address medical shortages, hunger, thirst, and hygiene deficiencies leading to diseases in Gaza.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

“For over seven months, the war in Gaza has caused inconceivable destruction, suffering and loss of life.

“It has traumatized the people on both sides of the conflict. It has also shown us how important it is to achieve a two-state solution, in which Israel and Palestine exist side by side in peace and security,” Eide said.