The Security Council meets regarding Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations

Palestine – Members of the UN Security Council will hold closed consultations on Monday, followed by an open session, to discuss the Palestinian application for permanent membership in the United Nations.

This comes following the Secretary-General of the United Nations referred the Palestinian request – which was submitted on September 23, 2011 and renewed last week, and is supported by the Arab League, the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Countries – to the Security Council last Tuesday.

New members are accepted into the United Nations by the General Assembly based on the recommendation of the Security Council, where the Council holds a formal meeting and refers the request to its permanent committee concerned with accepting new members.
In the consultations held today, members of the Security Council will determine whether the committee will deliberate on this matter or whether the Council will address it directly.

If the Council agrees to refer the request to accept the State of Palestine to the Committee, the Committee may hold its meeting this followingnoon. After its deliberations, if the committee ultimately recommends acceptance, it usually submits a draft resolution to the Council. If there is no disagreement regarding the committee’s recommendation, the Council will then adopt this decision.
Since admission to membership in the United Nations is a fundamental issue, it requires the approval of at least 9 of the 15 members of the Council and the veto power applies in this context.
If the Council does not recommend the request or postpones its consideration, the Council must submit a special report to the General Assembly, which in turn can ask the Council to reconsider, noting that no objection has been made to the admission of any new member to the United Nations since 1976.
In the General Assembly, accepting a new member is also considered an “important issue” that requires a two-thirds majority, noting that the number of countries recognizing the State of Palestine is 139 out of 193 member states.
If the Council is not ready to decide on the Palestinian request, it might choose to send it to the committee for an indefinite period, as happened in 2011.

Source: Agencies