Why does US block Palestine's bid for entering UN

By Dong Puyu (PLA Daily)

15:33, September 16, 2011

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

The United States would "object very strongly" if Palestine were to seek UN membership, U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview on Sept. 12. He explained that the Palestinian effort would obstruct the Middle East peace process and that the problem of Palestinian statehood cannot be resolved by the UN, but should be based on a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. 

The Obama administration has played both the “carrot” and “stick” strategies to block Palestine’s UN bid. 

As for the “carrot” strategy, the United States proposed a new round of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. According to The New York Times, the Obama administration proposed a new plan for Israel and Palestine to resume peace talks in order to persuade Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to give up his efforts to apply for full membership in the US. 

The U.S. government also warned Palestine that it was wrong to seek UN recognition rather than resume peace talks with Israel. Obama called on Israel and Palestine to make painful compromises and restart peace talks, which is the only way for the two sides to reach a settlement. 

As for the “stick” strategy, U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Susan Rice said early in June that the United States would stop UN political support and stop paying UN dues if the UN agrees to Palestine’s bid in September. This would be a great blow to the UN as their annual budget is 2.5 billion U.S. dollars and the United States still pays the largest part of the UN dues, amounting to 600 million U.S. dollars annually.

Palestine is very firm when facing opposition from the United States and insists that it would continue its UN membership bid efforts. It asked the UN to recognize a Palestinian statehood within the pre-1967 borders and with its capital set at East Jerusalem, as well as to give Palestine the UN membership. Abbas said that a Palestine state would first appear on the world map with the support of all countries. So far, 122 countries have made clear that they support Palestinian people to achieve this goal. 

As the United States has the veto right at the UN Security Council, the hope of Palestine’s UN admission is still slim. In the whole international community however, even if the United States uses its veto right to block the Palestinian UN bid, the UN General Assembly is still able to pass its Palestinian proposal and help Palestine to change from the current non-voting observer "entity" to a non-voting observer country.

The United States may become more isolated internationally if it use the veto right, and its reputation in the Middle East will also be ruined. 

To avoid this, the United States is still making final diplomatic efforts to persuade Palestine to give up its request for the “formal United Nations membership.” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sept 13 that she would dispatch two special representatives to the Middle East to talk with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. 

Some analysts believe that even if the United States succeeds in keeping Palestine from acquiring the formal membership, it will still face a major diplomatic failure in history because this will make the efforts made by the United States since Barrack Obama took office to repair its ties with the Arab world in vain, and even likely lead to a anti-American wave in the Arab world. 

Since the United States have chosen to “prevent,” it will surely get itself into an isolated situation no matter whether it can keep Palestine from acquiring the “formal United Nations membership.”

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