UN General Assembly approves Palestine membership bid

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has passed a resolution co-sponsored by Maldives to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

During the 10th emergency sitting held by the UN today, the United Arab Emirates submitted the "Admission of New Members to the United Nations" resolution.

The resolution received 143 votes in favor, 9 votes against, and 25 abstentions.

The resolution outlines that Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations and recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably. Palestine has been a non-voting observer to the UN since 2012.

The emergency sitting took place today following the United States' veto of a Palestinian bid, submitted by Algeria to the UN Security Council last month, to become a full member state. Member states can call for an emergency meeting when the UN Security Council is unable to perform its duties.

The draft resolution will give the Palestine some additional rights and privileges like a seat among the UN members, but it will not be granted a vote in the body.

However, this is not the first time that Palestine has lobbied for full UN membership. A previous attempt in 2011 had not even resulted in a vote.