India backs Palestine's UN membership bid; says only two-State solution will deliver peace

India has underscored its support for Palestine’s full membership at the UN while asserting that only a two-state solution, achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations, will deliver an enduring peace in the volatile region.

India voted in favour of a draft UN General Assembly resolution last week that said Palestine is qualified and should be admitted as a full member of the United Nations and recommended that the Security Council reconsider" the matter favourably.

“In keeping with our longstanding position, we support the membership of Palestine at the UN and, therefore, we have voted in favour of this Resolution,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, told the UN General Assembly on Monday.

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“We hope that Palestine’s application would be reconsidered by the Security Council in due course and that Palestine’s endeavour to become a member of the UN will get endorsed, she said. The 193-member General Assembly had met Friday for an emergency special session where the Arab Group resolution Admission of new Members to the United Nations, in support of the State of Palestine’s full membership in the UN, was presented by the United Arab Emirates, as Chair of the Arab Group in May.

The resolution got 143 votes in favour, including by India, nine against and 25 abstentions. The UNGA hall broke into applause after the vote was cast. The resolution determined that the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter of the United Nations and “should, therefore, be admitted to membership in the United Nations.

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It recommended that the Security Council reconsider the matter favourably in the light of this determination. Currently, Palestine is a non-member observer state at the UN, a status granted to it by the General Assembly in 2012. This status allows Palestine to participate in proceedings of the world body but it cannot vote on resolutions.

Kamboj stressed that India’s leadership has repeatedly emphasised that only a two-state solution, achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations between both sides on final status issues, will deliver an enduring peace.

“India is committed to supporting a two-state solution where the Palestinian people are able to live freely in an independent country within secure borders, with due regard to the security needs of Israel. To arrive at a lasting solution, we urge all parties to foster conditions conducive to resuming direct peace negotiations at an early date, she said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that between October 7 last year and May 12, at least 35,091 Palestinians have been killed and 78,827 injured in Gaza. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel.  Kamboj said that the conflict in Gaza has been going on for over seven months and the humanitarian crisis it has triggered has been increasing.

There is also the potential for growing instability in the region and beyond, she said. She said the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children.

“We have strongly condemned the deaths of civilians in the conflict, she said, adding that the terror attacks in Israel on October 7 were shocking and they deserve unequivocal condemnation from the international community. “There can be no justification for terrorism and hostage taking. India has a longstanding and uncompromising position against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, she said.

Emphasising that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, Kamboj said humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza must be scaled up immediately in order to avert a further deterioration in the situation. Noting the recent facilitation of a greater flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza by the Israeli authorities, Kamboj said India has provided humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine and will continue to do so.

India was the first non-Arab State to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in 1974. India was also one of the first countries to recognise the State of Palestine in 1988 and in 1996, Delhi opened its Representative Office to the Palestine Authority in Gaza, which was later shifted to Ramallah in 2003.

In April this year, Palestine sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, requesting that its application for full UN membership be considered again. For a State to be granted full UN membership, its application must be approved both by the Security Council and the General Assembly, where a two-third majority of the members present and voting is required for the State to be admitted as a full member.

Last month, the US had vetoed a resolution in the Security Council on the Palestinian bid to be granted full membership of the United Nations. The 15-nation Council had voted on a draft resolution that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations. The resolution got 12 votes in its favour, with Switzerland and the UK abstaining and the US casting its veto.