Officeholders whose status is disputed are shown in italics |
Member state of the Arab League |
Palestineportal |
The Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations. [1] The position is more formally known as the "Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations;" however, both the title of Ambassador and "Permanent Observer" is used. [1] The Permanent Observer, currently Riyad Mansour, is charged with representing the State of Palestine to the United Nations. [1]
In November 1974, the PLO was recognized as competent on all matters concerning the question of Palestine by the UN General Assembly granting them observer status as a "non-state entity" at the UN. [2] [3] After the 1988 Declaration of Independence, the UN General Assembly officially "acknowledged" the proclamation and decided to use the designation "Palestine" instead of "Palestine Liberation Organization" in the UN. [4] [5]
On 29 November 2012, in a 138-9 vote (with 41 abstentions and 5 absences), [6] the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 67/19, upgrading the status of Palestinian delegation within the United Nations system from an "observer entity" to a "non-member observer state", which was described as recognition of the PLO's sovereignty. [7] [8]
The UN has permitted the State of Palestine to title its representative office to the UN as "The Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations", [1] and Palestine has instructed its diplomats to officially represent "The State of Palestine"—no longer the Palestinian National Authority.
On 17 December 2012, UN Chief of Protocol Yeocheol Yoon declared that "the designation of 'State of Palestine' shall be used by the Secretariat in all official United Nations documents", [9] thus recognising the title 'State of Palestine' as the state's official name for all UN purposes. As of21June2024,145 (75.1%) of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised the State of Palestine. [8] [10]
The following is a chronological list of those who have held the office:
No. | Image | Ambassador to UN | Years served | U.N. Secretary-General | Palestinian Leadership |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Zuhdi Labib Terzi | 1974 - 1982 | Kurt Waldheim | Yasser Arafat | |
1982 – 1991 | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar | ||||
2 | Nasser al-Qudwa | 1991 – 1997 | Boutros Boutros-Ghali | ||
1997 – 2004 | Kofi Annan | ||||
2004 – 2005 | Mahmoud Abbas | ||||
3 | Riyad Mansour | ||||
2005 – 2017 | Ban Ki-moon | ||||
2017 – present | António Guterres |
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the Palestinian territories and the diaspora. It is currently represented by the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh.
The member states of the United Nations comprise 193 sovereign states. The United Nations (UN) is the world's largest intergovernmental organization. All members have equal representation in the UN General Assembly.
The Palestinian territories, also known as the Occupied Palestinian Territory, consist of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. These territories make up the State of Palestine, which was self-declared by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1988 and is recognized by 145 out of 193 UN member states.
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia recognized by 145 out of 193 UN member states. It encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, collectively known as the Palestinian territories, within the broader geographic and historical Palestine region. The country shares most of its borders with Israel, and it borders Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a total land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million people. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Ramallah serves as its administrative center. Gaza City was its largest city until 2023.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted on 10 November 1975, "Determines that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination" with 72 votes in favour, 35 votes against, and 32 abstentions. It was revoked by Resolution 46/86, adopted on 16 December 1991 with 111 votes in favour, 25 votes against, and 13 abstentions. The vote for Resolution 3379 was held nearly one year after the adoption of Resolution 3236 and Resolution 3237: the former recognized the "Question of Palestine" and invited the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to participate in international diplomacy; and the latter designated the PLO as a non-member Assembly observer following the "Olive Branch Speech" by Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3236, adopted by the 29th Session of the General Assembly on November 22, 1974, recognizes the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, officializes United Nations contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization, and adds the "Question of Palestine" to the U.N. Agenda.
The United Nations General Assembly has granted observer status to international organizations, entities, and non-member states, to enable them to participate in the work of the United Nations General Assembly, though with limitations. The General Assembly determines the privileges it will grant to each observer, beyond those laid down in a 1986 Conference on treaties between states and international organizations. Exceptionally, the European Union (EU) was in 2011 granted the right to speak in debates, to submit proposals and amendments, the right of reply, to raise points of order and to circulate documents, etc. As of May 2011, the EU is the only international organization to hold these enhanced rights, which has been likened to the rights of full membership, short of the right to vote.
The politics of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) take place within the framework of a semi-presidential multi-party republic, with a legislative council, an executive president, and a prime minister leading the cabinet.
Issues relating to the State of Palestine and aspects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict occupy continuous debates, resolutions, and resources at the United Nations. Since its founding in 1948, the United Nations Security Council, as of January 2010, has adopted 79 resolutions directly related to the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Riyad H. Mansour is a Palestinian-American diplomat and since 2005 has been the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations. Previous to Mansour's appointment to Permanent Observer, Mansour served as the Deputy Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations from 1983 to 1994. In 2005, President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas appointed him to succeed Nasser al-Qudwa as Permanent Observer for Palestine to the UN. Under Mansour, the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations changed from being an "entity" to being a "non-Member Observer State" on 29 November 2012.
Palestine 194 is an ongoing diplomatic campaign by the Palestinian National Authority to gain membership in the United Nations for the State of Palestine. The name of the campaign is a reference to Palestine becoming the 194th member of the UN. The UN campaign is part of a strategy to gain international recognition of the State of Palestine, based on the borders prior to the Six-Day War, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The initiative developed during a two-year impasse in negotiations with Israel that followed the latter's refusal to freeze its settlement activities in the West Bank. The campaign was reported in the media as early as late 2009, and gained prominence during the leadup to the 66th Session of the General Assembly in September 2011. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted the application to the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 23 September 2011, which the Security Council has yet to vote on.
The Sixty-sixth Session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 13 September 2011 at 15:00 and was presided over by former Qatari permanent representative to the UN Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser. The session ended on 18 September as al-Nasser symbolically passed the gavel to the president of the next session, Vuk Jeremic.
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 43/177 of 15 December 1988 was a resolution in which the United Nations General Assembly acknowledged the proclamation of the State of Palestine and the use of the designation "Palestine", referring to the PLO in the UN. Further, the Assembly affirmed the need for sovereignty by the Palestinian people over their territory occupied in 1967 by Israel. The resolution is titled "43/177. Question of Palestine".
United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 was a resolution accepting Palestine as a non-member observer state in the United Nations General Assembly. It was adopted by the sixty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly on 29 November 2012, the date of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the 65th anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of resolution 181(II) on the Future Government of Palestine. The draft resolution was proposed by Palestine's representative at the United Nations. It, however, maintains the status of the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people within the United Nations system. Though strongly contested by the United States and the government of Israel, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed support for the measure. The motion was seen as largely symbolic, though it could allow Palestine to start proceedings at the International Criminal Court against Israel. Its timing, following a year in which Palestine obtained membership of UNESCO and the UN Security Council was unable "to make a unanimous recommendation" on their application for full UN membership, and coming several days after the completion of Operation Pillar of Defense, was also noted. The new status equates Palestine with that of the Holy See within the United Nations system and implicitly recognises Palestinian sovereignty.
The foreign relations of the State of Palestine have been conducted since the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964. Since the Oslo Accords, it seeks to obtain universal recognition for the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. As of 21 June 2024, 145 of the 193 United Nations (UN) member states officially recognize the State of Palestine.
The Palestinian Declaration of Independence formally established the State of Palestine, and was written by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and proclaimed by Yasser Arafat on 15 November 1988 in Algiers, Algeria. It had previously been adopted by the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), by a vote of 253 in favour, 46 against, and 10 abstaining. It was read at the closing session of the 19th PNC to a standing ovation. Upon completing the reading of the declaration, Arafat, as Chairman of the PLO, assumed the title of President of Palestine. In April 1989, the PLO Central Council elected Arafat as the first President of the State of Palestine.
As of June 2024, the State of Palestine is recognized as a sovereign state by 145 of the 193 member states of the United Nations, or just over 75% of all UN members. It has been a non-member observer state of the United Nations General Assembly since November 2012. This limited status is largely due to the fact that the United States, a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power, has consistently used its veto or threatened to do so to block Palestine's full UN membership.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared the establishment of the State of Palestine on November 15, 1988. As of June 2024, the State of Palestine is recognized as a sovereign state by 145 of the 193 member states of the United Nations. It is a non-member observer state at the United Nations since November 2012. This limited status is largely due to the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power, has consistently used its veto or threatened to do so to block Palestine’s full membership to UN. The existence of a state of Palestine is recognized by the states that have established bilateral diplomatic relations with it. There is a wide range of views on the legal status of the State of Palestine, both among international states and legal scholars.