Palestinian President, Hamas slam US veto of Palestinian UN membership bid

Palestinian group Hamas condemned on Friday the US veto that ended a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership.

"Hamas condemns the American veto at the Security Council of the draft resolution granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations," the Gaza Strip rulers said in a statement, which comes amid growing international concern over the toll of the six-month war in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas first delivered the Palestinian Authority’s application for UN membership in 2011. It failed because the Palestinians didn’t get the required minimum support of nine of the Security Council’s 15 members.

They went to the General Assembly and succeeded by more than a two-thirds majority in having their status raised from a UN observer to a non-member observer state in 2012. That opened the door for the Palestinian territories to join UN and other international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.

Agencies