Hope Palestine's application for UN membership will be reconsidered, endorsed: India
United Nations (PTI): India has voiced hope that Palestine’s bid to become a full member of the United Nations, which was blocked by the US last month, will be reconsidered and its endeavour to become a member of the world organisation will get endorsed.
The US vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council on a Palestinian bid to be granted full membership of the United Nations last month. The 15-nation Council had voted on a draft resolution that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
The resolution got 12 votes in its favour, with Switzerland and the UK abstaining and the US casting its veto. To be adopted, the draft resolution required at least nine Council members voting in its favour, with no vetoes by any of its five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“While we have noted that Palestine’s application for membership at the United Nations was not approved by the Security Council because of the aforesaid veto, I would like to state here at the very outset that in keeping with India's long-standing position, we hope that this would be reconsidered in due course and that Palestine’s endeavour to become a member of the United Nations will get endorsed,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said here.
India was the first non-Arab State to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in 1974. India was also one of the first countries to recognise the State of Palestine in 1988 and in 1996, Delhi opened its Representative Office to the Palestine Authority in Gaza, which later was shifted to Ramallah in 2003.
Currently, Palestine is a “non-member observer state” at the UN, a status granted to it by the General Assembly in 2012. This status allows Palestine to participate in proceedings of the world body but it cannot vote on resolutions. The only other non-member Observer State at the UN is the Holy See, representing the Vatican.
Addressing a General Assembly meeting on Wednesday, Kamboj underlined that India’s leadership has repeatedly emphasised that only a two-state solution achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations between Israel and Palestine on final status issues will deliver an enduring peace.
“India is committed to supporting a two-state solution where the Palestinian people are able to live freely in an independent country within secure borders with due regard to the security needs of Israel,” she said.
Kamboj stressed that to arrive at a lasting solution, India would urge all parties to foster conditions conducive to resuming direct peace negotiations at an early date.
On April 2, Palestine sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requesting that its application for full UN membership be considered again. For a State to be granted full UN membership, its application must be approved both by the Security Council and the General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting is required for the State to be admitted as a full member.
Kamboj noted that the latest conflict in Gaza has been ongoing for over six months and the humanitarian crisis that it has triggered has been increasing.
“There is also the potential for growing instability in the region and beyond,” she added.
Underlining India's position on the conflict, Kamboj said the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children, and a humanitarian crisis, which is simply unacceptable. India has strongly condemned the deaths of civilians in the conflict.
Kamboj said the terror attacks in Israel on October 7 were shocking and deserve “unequivocal condemnation.
“There can be no justification for terrorism and hostage-taking. India has a long-standing and uncompromising position against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. And we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Kamboj said.
India stressed that it is imperative that humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza be scaled up immediately in order to avert a further deterioration in the situation. “We urge all parties to come together in this endeavour,” Kamboj said, adding that India has provided humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine and that it will continue to do so.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing Gaza’s Ministry of Health data, said that from October 7, 2023, till now, at least 34,568 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 77,765 Palestinians injured.
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Sunetra Pawar reaches Mumbai, all set to become state's first woman Dy CM
Mumbai (PTI): Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar, who is all set to be sworn in as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister replacing her deceased husband and NCP chief Ajit Pawar in the state cabinet, reached Mumbai on Saturday.
She reached Devgiri, the official residence of her late husband in south Mumbai, in the wee hours, accompanied by son Parth.
The 62-year-old leader, who is not a member of either house of the Maharashtra legislature, will be elected as leader of the legislature wing of the Nationalist Congress Party at a meeting in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon, and is all set to take oath as Maharashtra’s first woman deputy CM.
The talk of imminent merger of NCP and the faction headed by party founder Sharad Pawar was gaining ground following Ajit Pawar's death in an air crash on Wednesday, but sources in NCP (SP) and Sharad Pawar's family said they were not privy to her decision to join the BJP-led Mahayuti government.
"The NCP (SP) leadership and Sharad Pawar's family members were completely in the dark about her plans," a source said.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP, which heads the ruling alliance Mahayuti, would support any decision taken by the family and party of late Ajit Pawar.
"The NCP will take whatever decision it has to take for the post of deputy chief minister, and we will support the decision. We are standing behind the family of Ajit Dada and the NCP," the CM told reporters in Nagpur on Friday.
Until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar had kept a low profile. In the Lok Sabha elections that year, she contested from Baramati as the candidate of her husband's party, but was defeated by her sister-in-law and incumbent NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule in the prestige battle.
Sunetra Pawar was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha.
The NCP's legislature wing will hold a meeting in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon where she would be named as its leader, state minister and senior party leader Chhagan Bhujbal said.
