The US has blocked a Palestinian bid to be recognised as a full member state at the United Nations.
Twelve of the 15-member Security Council were in favor, Britain and Switzerland abstained, but America vetoed the motion.
The US said it still strongly supported a two-state solution, but it’s vote was “acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it “unfair, unethical, and unjustified”.
However, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz praised the US for blocking the move.
The draft resolution had recommended to the 193-member General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership”.
America’s UN envoy, Robert Wood, cited Hamas’s continued control over Gaza as a key factor in blocking the motion.
The group is designated a terror group by many governments, including the US and UK.
The Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, is currently a non-member observer state at the UN – a position granted in 2012.
Its bid for full membership must be passed by the Security Council and at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.
Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip; all territory taken by Israel in 1967.
The UN has long advocated for a plan that would see a Palestinian state with secure and agreed borders created next to Israel.
Many see it as the best chance to end the decades of violence that preceded the current Israel-Hamas war.
However, hardliners in Israel’s right-wing government reject the idea of a Palestinian state.
