Palestine’s UN membership quest based on international justice – envoy

Mr Azmi Al-Daqqa, the Palestinian envoy in Nigeria

Palestine’s UN membership quest based on international justice – envoy
Ngozi John-Anigbogu, Abuja

The Palestinian envoy in Nigeria, Mr. Azmi Al-Daqqa says his country’s quest for full membership of the United Nations is a peaceful move based on international justice and will not hurt anyone.

Mr Al-Daqqa told Voice of Nigeria in an exclusive interview in Abuja that Palestine had been attending the UN General Assembly on an observer status and would now want to be a full member of the world body.

His statement comes barely 24 hours to the UN General Assembly which opens on Tuesday and amidst moves by the United States and Israel to block the Palestinian application.

‘Political bomb’

US diplomats have described Palestine’s UN bid as a ‘political bomb’ capable of affecting the stalled Middle East peace talks.

But Mr Al-Daqqa, who is the Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, says, “I don’t think it is a violent move, it is a peaceful move. The United Nations is in charge of peace and security of the whole world; when you have problem, you have to go somewhere, so we decided to go to the UN.”

Al-Daqqa also said that under the UN Resolution 181, which stipulates a two-state solution, Israel became a member of the UN, while Palestine is not:

“What we seek is a full member state on the pre-1967 border, although resolution 181 gives us more land but we talk about 181 because it is supported by everybody as the peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis.”

Independence and freedom

The envoy said already 122 of the 193 member nations of the UN recognise Palestine as a state and appealed to the rest to support the Palestinian bid.

“We ask the UN who is in charge of global peace and security to recognise the other state.  It’s about us, we mean to confront nobody.  We only want our independence and freedom”, he said.

Veto threats 

On the claim that the US has stated that it would veto such a move, the envoy said, “during the last General Assembly that was the 65th Session of the UN, President Barack Obama mentioned that he wanted to see Palestine as a full member state of the UN in 2011, so we hope the United States would not veto our request to be a full member state.”

In July 2011, the Palestinian authorities clarified the ‘Palestine declaration of Independence’ in a four-page document, stating that ‘the establishment of a Palestinian state was a promise made to the Palestinian people by the international community whose fulfillment was long overdue’.

Palestinian bid

The document also states that ‘recognising the state of Palestine protects the viability of the two-state solution from continued unilateral Israeli action, among others.

Meanwhile, Israel and the United States are vehemently opposed to the Palestinian bid.

Senior US and European officials on Sunday said they were trying to find a way of bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to stalled negotiations without antagonizing either side or embroiling the region in new turmoil.

Analysts say the effort is now about damage control rather than diplomacy.

The Palestinians will need nine affirmative votes from the fifteen-member Security Council; and two-thirds of the votes of 193 members of the UN to sail through..

Tuesday’s meeting of the UN General Assembly is therefore critical for Palestine.

Iheanacho/Ekata