The United Nations General Assembly on May 10 backed overwhelmingly a Palestinian bid for full UN membership by recognising it as qualified to join the global body and recommending that the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”.

The resolution in favour of the Palestinians’ drive for full UN membership won broad majority support in the 193-member assembly, with 143 in favour and nine against – including the United States and Israel – and 25 abstentions.

Singapore voted for the resolution.

In explaining the vote, Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN Burhan Gafoor said it was “a vote in favour of a negotiated two-state solution at a critical juncture in a very troubled region”.

“Both Israel and Palestine have the right to exist and to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force,” he said.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in a separate statement that Singapore is “calling on both Israelis and Palestinians to take that bold but necessary step – return to the negotiating table, seek a two-state solution”.

“The alternative is to have endless repeated cycles of violence and retribution,” said Dr Balakrishnan.

“As a friend of both Israel and Palestine, we urge both sides to avoid violence, to reject violence and to resume negotiations towards a two-state solution with the help and the support of the international community,” he said.

The draft resolution, introduced by the United Arab Emirates, says “the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter and should, therefore, be admitted”.

It calls on the UN Security Council to “reconsider the matter favourably”.

Roadblock and gains

That is unlikely to occur, as the US opposes any recognition of statehood outside of a bilateral accord between the Palestinians and Israel, whose current right-wing government is adamantly opposed to a two-state solution.

The resolution, nonetheless, gives the Palestinians certain “additional rights and privileges” starting in the next session of the General Assembly, in September.

The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the UN General Assembly in 2012.

The text explicitly rules out letting them be chosen to sit on the Security Council or to vote in the General Assembly.

But it would let the Palestinians submit proposals and amendments directly, without having to go through another country, as is the case now.

It would also give them the right to be seated among member states in alphabetical order.

“We want peace, we want freedom,” Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the General Assembly before the vote.

“A yes vote is a vote for Palestinian existence. It is not against any state... It is an investment in peace.

“Voting yes is the right thing to do,” he said in remarks that drew applause.

Israel has criticised the initiative, with Ambassador Gilad Erdan saying it will “grant the Palestinian Authority the rights of a state de facto” and violates the UN Charter by “bypassing the Security Council”.

He said that under the founding UN Charter, membership is open to “peace-loving states” that accept the obligations in that document and are able and willing to carry them out.

“As long as so many of you are ‘Jew-hating’, you don’t really care that the Palestinians are not ‘peace-loving’,” said Mr Erdan, who spoke after Mr Mansour.

He accused the General Assembly of shredding the UN Charter – as he used a small shredder to destroy a copy of the charter while at the lectern.

“Shame on you,” Mr Erdan said.

The United States also expressed reservations.

“We’re concerned about the precedent it sets,” said Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood.