US imposes veto on Palestine’s request for full UN membership

In a vote of 12 in favor to one against, with two abstentions, the U.N. Security Council did not pass a draft resolution on allowing Palestine to join the U.N. as a full member state, because of a U.S. veto. 

The draft resolution was among the shortest in the history of the U.N. Security Council: “The Security Council, having examined the application of the State of Palestine for admission to the United Nations (S/2011/592), recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”

For a draft resolution to pass, at least nine members of the U.N. must vote in favor and none of its permanent members, i.e., China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States should use their veto power.

Amid the ongoing war in Gaza, Palestine had put in a request to the secretary-general of the U.N. on April 2, asking that its 2011 request to become a U.N. member state be reconsidered.