Palau is one of the few countries that has voted with the United States in opposing the full membership of Palestine in the United States.
Last week, the UN General Assembly voted to back Palestine’s full membership in the global body with a vote of 143 to nine with 25 abstentions.
While the resolution does not provide for full membership of Palestine, it gives Palestine “rights and privileges,” such as to be seated among Member States in alphabetical order such as the right of members of the delegation of the State of Palestine to be elected as officers in the plenary and the Main Committees of the General Assembly and full and effective participation in UN conferences and international conferences and meetings convened under the auspices of the General Assembly or, as appropriate, of other UN organs.
Granting Palestinian membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council.
Voting against the resolution were the US, Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea. Saudi Arabian Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil recalled General Assembly resolutions adopted over the years that reaffirmed the rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination.
“The resolution presented today is fully in line with those resolutions. It seeks to implement the will of the international community and contribute to building true peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution,” he said.
Ambassador FU Cong of China said that Palestine should have the same status as Israel and that Palestinian people should enjoy the same rights as Israeli people.
“It is the common responsibility of the international community to support and advance the process of Palestinian independent Statehood, and provide strong support for the implementation of the two-State solution and a lasting peace in the Middle East,” he said.
The US, meanwhile, opposed the resolution, saying negotiations are needed for Palestinian statehood. Ambassador Robert Wood said, “We have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully. Instead, it is an acknowledgment that statehood will come from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties.”
“There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish State. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and dignity in a State of their own,” he added.
Israel’s Ambassador Gilad Erdan said that welcoming Palestine to the UN is welcoming a terror State into its ranks.”
“You have opened up the United Nations to modern-day Naziism. It makes me sick.”