On May 10, all member states should vote to admit the State of Palestine as the 194th member of the United Nations.
On May 10, the 193 member states of the United Nations can end the Gaza war and the long-standing suffering of the Palestinian people by voting to admit Palestine as the 194th UN member state.
The Arab world has repeatedly expressed its willingness to establish relations with Israel within the framework of the two-state solution. This goes back to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and was reaffirmed at the special Arab-Islamic summit in 2023. On May 16, the region’s leaders will gather for the 33rd Arab League summit, where another appeal for peace and stability is expected to be made.
The path to ending the war and normalizing relations in the Middle East is clear. Admission of the State of Palestine to the UN, on the 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem and with control over Muslim holy sites. Diplomatic relations will then be established and the mutual security of Israel and Palestine guaranteed. The vast majority of the world certainly agrees with the two-state solution as enshrined in international law and UN resolutions.
Today, 142 of the 193 countries officially recognize the state of Palestine, but the United States has so far blocked Palestine’s membership in the United Nations, where statehood really counts. Israel continues to harbor its dream – and the world’s nightmare – of continued apartheid rule. Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have recently established diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine and the General Assembly is about to vote overwhelmingly in favor of Palestine’s membership. The unity of the global community for the political self-determination of Palestine is also reflected on university campuses in the United States, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. Students recognize the torments of apartheid and plausible genocide when they see them; and actively demand an end to the torment.
According to Article 4 of the UN Charter, admission is carried out by a decision of the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. On April 18, the United States vetoed the Security Council vote on Palestinian membership, but 12 of the 15 Council members voted in favor. The United Kingdom abstained from voting, as if it had not already caused enough chaos in the region. Due to the US veto, the General Assembly will address the issue in an emergency special session on May 10. This vote will show overwhelming support for Palestine’s membership. It will then be taken up again by the Security Council.
Our goal is to put UN membership first. Peace will never be achieved at the end of another “peace process,” like the failed Oslo process, nor through the whims of imperial powers that have continually devastated the region. Today’s Israeli leaders are strongly opposed to the two-state solution, and the US and UK have come out strongly in favor of Israel rejecting it. The US and Britain have repeatedly destroyed the two-state solution by always being in favor of it, but never just now. They have advocated endless negotiations while Israel continues its apartheid system, a war that constitutes a plausible case of genocide, and illegal settlements as “facts on the ground.”
By admitting Palestine as a UN member state, the United Nations would also take decisive steps to ensure the security of both Israel and Palestine. Peace would be enforced through international law and the support of the UN Security Council, Arab states and indeed the global community.
This moment has been more than a century in coming. In 1917, Britain declared a province of the Ottoman Empire that was not part of it to be the Jewish homeland. The next 30 years were marked by violence, leading to the Nakba and then repeated wars. After the 1967 war, when Israel conquered the remaining Palestinian territories, it administered an apartheid state. Israeli society became increasingly hardened against their rule, with extremist Israelis and Palestinians on both sides of the bitter divide that only widened. The US and UK were brazen and cynically dishonest brokers. Politics in both countries have long been thoroughly Zionist, meaning that both countries almost always side with Israel, regardless of justice and justice.
We have arrived at a truly historic moment to end decades of violence. No more peace processes undermined by political manipulation. Peace can be achieved through the immediate implementation of the two-state solution, with the admission of Palestine to the UN as the starting point and not the end. Diplomatic recognition should be built in and invite further decisive steps towards mutual security. On May 10, it is time for all UN member states to uphold international law and vote for justice and peace.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.