INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote Friday on a Palestinian request for full U.N
membership, said diplomats, a move that Israel ally the United States is expected to block because it would effectively recognize a
Palestinian state.The 15-member council is due to vote at 3 pm Friday on a draft resolution that recommends to the 193-member U.N
General Assembly that ''the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations,& diplomats told Reuters.A council resolution
needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States , Britain, France, Russia or China to pass
Diplomats say the measure could have the support of up to 13 council members, which would force the United States to use its veto.Council
member Algeria, which put forward the draft resolution, had requested a vote for Thursday afternoon to coincide with a Security Council
meeting on the Middle East, which is due to be attended by several ministers.The United States has said that establishing an independent
Palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations between the parties and not at the United Nations.We do not see that doing a
resolution in the Security Council will necessarily get us to a place where we can find … a two-state solution moving forward,& United
States Ambassador to the U.N
Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Wednesday.The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood
that was granted by the 193-member U.N
But an application to become a full U.N
member needs to be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.The U.N
Security Council has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders
Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in 1967.Little progress has been
made on achieving Palestinian statehood since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the early
1990s.The post UN Security Council to vote Friday on Palestinian UN membership first appeared on Ariana News.