No consensus on Palestinian UN bid: Report

United Nations: There is no consensus in the powerful UN Security Council on whether Palestine should be granted full statehood at the UN, according to a report by a key panel of the world body. The report by the UN committee on Admission of New UN Member states has concluded that there is “no unanimous recommendation” on whether Palestine should be granted statehood at the UN. The four-page report by the UN committee, which is examining the Palestinian request for admission to the world body, was circulated by Portugal’s Ambassador to the UN Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, who is the current Security Council President, to the 15 council members today. The report “concludes that the committee cannot make an unanimous recommendation to the Security Council” about Palestine, an official told. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had submitted his application for membership to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on September 23. [caption id=“attachment_126639” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The admissions committee will meet on November 11 when it will adopt the report, after which it will go to the Security Council.Reuters.”]  [/caption] The admissions committee will meet on November 11 when it will adopt the report, after which it will go to the Security Council. The official said one or more member states would then have to submit a resolution seeking Palestinian membership for the issue to be voted upon in the council. The draft report mentions the position each country has on the Palestinian statehood request, without naming the countries individually. The views of the nations are divided into support for Palestinian membership, opposition to the bid and those countries who would abstain from voting. Palestine needs nine votes in its favour in the Security Council and no permanent member of the Council - US, China, Russia, Britain and France - should veto the resolution. The US, a close ally of Israel, has already made it clear that it will veto any resolution seeking to grant membership to the Palestinians. India has been supported Palestine’s bid for statehood at the UN. Apart from India, China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and Lebanon have said they will support the Palestinian membership. France, Britain and Colombia had announced they would abstain. PTI