Palestinians May Delay UN Security Council Vote on Statehood

Aims for More Time to Convince Nations

Speaking in the wake of President Obama’s condemnation of Palestinian statehood, officials for the Palestinian Authority say that they may delay their UN Security Council vote on statehood in an effort to gain more support.

The move toward statehood is expected to come Friday, and while they were initially believed to be pushing for a quick vote, it is now believed the PA will spend more time with the admissions committee after the request, a process that could take weeks.

It is widely thought that the PA has a narrow majority of support in the UN Security Council, with some other nations uncommitted, the promise of a US veto complicates matters. Officials seem to prefer to have more nations on their side, in the hope of embarrassing the US away from vetoing their independence.

But while the Palestinians petition, the US will continue to be active in pressing those undecided nations to oppose statehood, warning them of unspecified “consequences” if they don’t.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.