Palestine Gets UNGA's Historic 'Seat' Amid Israel Face-Off; 2-State Only Solution? | Global Mirror

all right moving on Palestine is now officially seated at the United Nations General Assembly Egyptian Ambassador Osama Mahmud informed about it while calling the moment historic as a result Palestine will be able to include its Representatives on the list of speakers in discussions on Middle Eastern issues and present amendments and proposals however Palestine remains an observer State and does not have voting rights in the general assembly and it cannot nominate its representatives for various position within un bodies and agencies this Palestinian presence was made possible by a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on the 10th of May this year when 143 Nations including India had voted on palestine's eligibility for full un membership Israel meanwhile has criticized the move arguing that the decision was influenced by political favoritism India remember has consistently supported the two Nation solution with external affairs minister Dr J Shankar recently reiterating India's stand on a potential ceasefire in the war and how the country supports it over the years India has provided financial support as well to the tune of $35 million till 2023 24 for un agencies core programs and services including education healthc care relief and Social Services provided to Palestinian refugees to talk more on this I'm joined on the broadcast by Miss Vina secri she's a former ambassador Ambassador Vina sikri good evening namaskar welcome to mirror now uh ma'am let me begin first by asking you uh now that Palestine is officially uh in the United Nations General Assembly it uh you know has a placard in front of it that says state of Palestine how important does it become for Palestine to get such a recognition in a body like United Nations well I think this is a great achievement it is the result of a 50-year effort I think it is way back on 14th of October 1974 that the Palestinians uh really got the first boost in their effort when the UN General Assembly recognized the representative uh the PLO as a sole representative of the Palestinian people and it recognized the rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination and for sovereignity and it is this uh 1974 resolution which was a starting point which gave them the Boost because the PLO being the sole representation then moved ahead very fast and in 1988 um on in the on the 15th of November the PLO officially declared themselves as a state of Palestine so that was in 1988 but then this had to go through the UN all over again and in in September 2012 that is when Palestinian Palestinians got the status of nonmember Observer state so they were non-member but an observer state so they got the Observer state status at the uh un which in fact gave them a very uh exalted position compared to their earlier position and today in May 2024 we there a non-member state so the term Observer has been removed they are a non-member state the state of Palestine and they are now eligible to sit in the UN GA but of course we have to recognize that because the UN Security Council has not accepted the uh the recommendation to give them full membership and this was vetoed by the United States so the the the PLO the the state of Palestine remains only as a non-member um state in the UN they do not have the right to vote and they they have a lot of Rights they can bring cases against the people who are taken action they want to take action against against Israel and others but they do not have the right to vote so it's it's a major movement forward I would say it's the maximalist movement forward for becoming a full uh member of the US now it's only the security Council resolution that is holding them back and that will have to remain till the veto of the United States is removed uh but I think this has given them a great deal of um a strength a great boost forward and as our external affairs minister has has said very clearly this is a a tremendous success for the two-state solution for resolving the Palestinian uh issue I think that uh uh we now is up to the state of Israel to take it forward I was coming to next Ambassador Vina sikri you know in terms of the war that is happening does it strengthen uh palestine's position at all when we talk about the United Nations on a global platform like the UN does it strengthen its position considering the fact that it Still Remains an observer State no it's not an observer State it's a nonmember state so you know it's uh it hasn't got that full membership but it has got it has been upgraded from Observer to non-member State it was earlier non-member Observer State and now it's a non-member state like the holy sea and others which is the maximum position you can get without being a full member now I think that um it is a big political boost uh for the uh state of Palestine and one must recognize that but as far as the war in uh the Gaza the Hamas Israel war is concerned I think that has to have negotiations to bring to an end and this need to bring the two together to bring Israel and Palestine together on a platform uh has to be through negotiations I think here one more issue we have to recognize is that uh the question of Hamas as a terrorist organization I think this is one aspect uh which has to be dealt with and of course we do know that Hamas as a even though it is banned by many countries it is a terrorist recognized as a terrorist organization uh but still uh we do know that it has support of many other countries and whether it's Qatar Iran so many other countries are supporting it unless this question of uh Hamas and the terrorist organization is resolved I do not think we are going to get very much forward on the question of solving or bringing to a peaceful end or bringing even to negotiations uh the question of the Hamas Israel war and I think uh we have to look at this issue of terrorism very strongly in order to make sure that we can bring this question to an end so that palestin can really take its full position uh in the committee of Nations as a full member of the United Nations can I also understand from you Ambassador secre you mentioned the two U States solution um how does it move forward now that Palestine is on board at the United Nations would it uh sort of fast forward the process if at all um you know the other side and both the sides agree to it which hasn't happen uh and probably will not in the near future but does that does this help it at all well it takes it one step forward so definitely it's a help because the UN G has unanimously aw with 2/3 majority actually 75% majority has really voted to bring uh the the question of the State of Palestine one step forward the maximum you can get without the security Council uh recommendation being accepted so I think in that sense it's a big boost for for Palestine but as I said to end the Hamas Israel war Israel has strongly opposed the present uh elevation of Palestinian to the state of to position of non-member State uh Israel has opposed it but now to get to the next stage to get Israel to accept there have to be negotiations between Israel and Hamas uh we also know that China and others have made an initiative to bring uh Hamas and PLO and all the organizations on one footing so there'll be a unified position uh of these countries in their negotiations with Israel that has also happened but still I think uh the question question of Hamas as a terrorist organization remains Central to the solution of the Hamas Israel conflict and if Hamas were to with the pressure of the world Community were to give up uh its uh you know terrorist activities were to accept that it would be a peaceful organization uh I think you get very far indeed but whether that will happen is is really a mood point it seems very very uh unlikely to happen in the near future but I think certainly in the increase of the people of Palestine because they suff in so much I mean look at the amount of death and destruction and the amount of uh you know sheer sheer human loss of life and destruction of uh economic assets of people I mean it's it's really terrible to see that happening day after day so the whole world is very keen that they do get some state of negotiations and we can move forward um uh on on the question of ending the Hamas Israel conflict I think once again this is one of those issues that perhaps is waiting uh for the American elections to be completed and the results to be known in the month of November and then we hope that there will be progress on this as well on the resolution of the Ukraine war um issues um how do you see India's role in this Ambassador secre you know there have been uh talks about how India can play the role of a mediator in this conflict as well do you see that happening uh at all well as of now uh uh I don't think there's any initiative in that direction I think that India is not seeking a mediator role at all but India is very happy to talk to both sides we have just seen how on the uh Ukraine Russia conflict uh you know our prime minister was in Russia our prime minister was in keev and has had discussions with President Putin has had discussions with president zilinski and right now our NSA Ajit doal is in is in Moscow and he had him he has called on President Putin as well so I think wherever the possibility is there our prime minister our leadership is very much more than willing to meet all sides and to discuss the issues to carry it further we've seen some slight movement on the Ukraine Russia conflict but I think that is as of now and I think that that should take itself forward logically again after perhaps after the uh American elections but on the Hamas Israel I do not see anything at the moment uh uh happening but certainly our government is ready since we have good relations with all sides we have good relations with Israel we have good relations with Palestine we've had very positive relations we've been one of the core supporters of Palestine all these years we've supported the two Nation Theory all these years and our relations with Israel are very strong and good so certainly all the conditions are there but at the moment there doesn't seem to be anything on the platter at at this time you know it's interesting Ambassador secri that here we're talking about this resolution to this entire conflict uh but you have the UN General Secretary Antonio gutes saying that the Israeli Prime Minister has stopped taking my calls and I haven't talked to him in a long time um how does this move forward then how you know uh Global pressure is not working on prime minister Netanyahu that he's already facing a lot of domestic uh pressure and domestic challenges how does this move forward then I think again it is you know the USA is the one country that as of today is in a position to put pressure on uh prime minister Benjamin nahu and to bring the two sides to the table um at this right point but right now one doesn't see this one does not see this happening before the elections are there and um I think Prime yyah would be very aware of this that uh he has been in America he's been there more than once he's addressed Congress and he's done everything that you know um he can do to retain his support uh in the USA we although we do know that there was this tremendous upheaval on University campuses across the country in USA and uh tremendous uh conflictual contextual and very conflicting feelings among so many groups and peoples in the USA even though USA has been such a traditional supporter of of of Israel uh but right now at this moment I think till the American elections I do not see anything happening Beyond uh the present State and Beyond everybody uh expressing a keen desire to get both countries uh Israel and the Palestinians to the conflict to the uh peace table to peace talks to end the conflict and we can certainly hope it'll end soon but not before the end of this year I see I think and and what changed do you think will happen after the American election results it is uh the Biden Administration and the Democrat Administration during which this war started Trump is saying that you know if he were the president these wars wouldn't have started at all well yes I mean uh former president Trump who is now contesting the elections again he's he's saying that about Ukraine as well that he will have a very quick resolution for the Ukraine Russia conflict if he were to be elected president and certainly on um on the Gaza uh Israel on the Hamas Israel conflict he's also very optimistic but what can we say about that till he actually becomes the president till he's actually elected the president again so we again we have to wait I think another two months will go by in this wait uh because even on the Ukraine Russia uh conflict while uh we are seeing the stirrings uh the initial stirrings of a peace process uh these things don't happen suddenly they do uh spin themselves out over a long time but India is certainly doing its best by talking to a very broad cross cross-section of countries involved uh in the Ukraine Russia conflict uh but as far as the Palestinian uh conflict is concerned I really do not see anything moving uh till the till after the US elections you know U uh diplomacy is a tight rope that countries walk Ambassador secre uh and in these kind of conflicts specifically the Israel Hamas War um does diplomacy stop somewhere where you see that okay you know right now uh probably is not the right time to talk or you know hold discussions over a resolution or you just go on with it uh even if one of the sides or perhaps both the sides are not willing uh to back off yeah but diplomacy never stops absolutely you're right on that it just never stops right now the UN is on and certainly the state of Palestine they have taken their rightful position there on the table so now they are in a very strong position to interact openly directly with the other countries to talk to all sides and to see what they can do to get the people on their side to to come together and put pressure after all one must see that it is the UN which has done this it is the vast majority of nation states who have got together in the support for Palestine and bringing them to this situation that they today a non-member State of the UN um certainly now they can continue with these talks and this will continue and diplomacy will continue between governments as well diplomacy will continue I think the US is also continuing it uh its active talks with Israel uh you know cautioning them telling them we even withheld some supplies small supplies of weaponry and so on so all these efforts continue diplomacy really never ends and you never know from which point the diplomacy may may come up but I do think that uh you know the support uh for Hamas is one factor uh which uh which does hold back because terrorism is an issue which the world must recognize you know and I think that as long as terrorism is allowed to continue unchecked and member states are helping terrorist organizations despite all the UN resolutions there is a problem here you know so I think on both sides has to look at it just like one talks about Israel getting support from some member states and so many Weaponry supplies from the US one talks about Hamas getting supports from other member states and a equal supply of weaponry and very Advanced uh technological weapons so I think one has to recognize at one point that uh it is this Supply finance and weaponry you know these are the two crucial factors in any war in any conflict in any terrorist uh in uh organization so if you cannot cut off the supply of uh finance and the supply of weaponry and the access to more and more advanced Weaponry then how will the conflict end because then everyone who has access to such Weaponry will continue to use them which they think is to their benefit but in the end it is not because it destroys people it destroys homes and brings no solution at all yeah so I think more than lip service and words Ambassador secre you know what we want is action on ground which is implemented but we'll leave it there thank you very much Ambassador Vina sikri for joining us on miror now and sharing your perspective and helping us understand this entire historic move namaskar ma'am all right with that viewers it's a wrap