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22:56 GMT
NEW YORK, May 1 (KUNA) - The Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said Palestine's membership in the UN is long overdue and its right to self-determination could not hinge upon an Israeli veto.
"We will never accept that the Palestinian people's right to self- determination, to statehood and admission to the UN, could be in any way subject to an Israeli veto," Mansour to a special UN General Assembly plenary on the United States vetoing of a UN Security Council resolution on granting Palestinian a full UN membership on April 18.
He said Palestine will now bring the matter for consideration by the General Assembly at the resumed 10th emergency special session and urged the Security Council to reconsider its application for admission.
Mansour called for every State to use the means available to them to end the carnage in Gaza and advance freedom and peace.
"The time for recognition of the state of Palestine is right now," he said, expressing gratitude to the more than 140 countries that have taken this "important step".
"For those who have not yet recognized the state of Palestine, we say there are no grounds for further delay. Those who want to destroy the Palestinian state, and with it any chance for peace, are not waiting," he said.
The Palestinian diplomat said he stood before the General Assembly "as the massacres against the Palestinian people continue unabated".
He said an immediate ceasefire - long called for by the Assembly and demanded by the Security Council - is indispensable and cannot be delayed any further.
Today's plenary session was held in accordance with the 2022 initiative that calls for the UN's most representative body to meet within 10 days if the veto is used in the Security Council by one of its permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - who are granted this special voting power.
Palestine is a 'Permanent Observer State" at the UN, meaning that it can participate in all UN proceedings, except for voting on draft resolutions and decisions in its main organs and bodies. (end)
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