The United States has vetoed a resolution by Palestine in the UN Security Council seeking full membership of the United Nations.
The Council, with 15 member nations, voted on a draft resolution on Thursday that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
12 nations voted in favour of the resolution while the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained and the US cast its veto.
For the draft resolution to be adopted, it required at least nine Council members voting in its favour, with no vetoes by any of its five permanent members— China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Palestine currently holds the status of a "non-member observer state" at the UN which was granted to it by the General Assembly in 2012.
Holy See, representing the Vatican is the only other non-member Observer State at the UN.
This status allows Palestine to participate in proceedings of the world body but cannot vote on resolutions.
Explaining the vote, US Ambassador Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs said that Washington continues to strongly support a two-state solution.
“It remains the US view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners,” he said.
“This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgement that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties,” he added.
“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas – a terrorist organisation – is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” Wood said adding that “For these reasons, the United States voted “no” on this Security Council resolution.”