Security Council members did not reach a consensus on Thursday on whether to recommend Palestine’s admission as a full member state to the United Nations, its president announced, a fact that foreshadows the outcome of an upcoming vote.

Citing Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians last week restarted the process of joining the organization as a full member state, dating back to 2011, in a letter to the organization’s Secretary-General and Security Council. The request considers a “committee for the inclusion of new members”, an ad hoc structure of the Security Council.

During the second closed-door meeting of this committee yesterday Thursday “there was no consensus”, summed up Malta’s ambassador to the UN, Vanessa Fraser, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the SA this month.

He assured that “two thirds” of SA members are in favor of full integration, without naming anyone.

But for the committee to make decisions, consensus is required.

However, this does not mean the end of the Palestinian project. After the committee draws up a report, any SA member state can in practice submit a draft decision on admission for discussion and voting.

According to diplomatic sources, a vote may indeed be held on April 18, at the initiative of Algeria, which represents the Arab states in the Security Council.

Although the Maltese ambassador hinted that the draft resolution would garner the 9 votes out of 15 required, most observers are discounting a US veto.

As in 2011, Washington says that the UN is not the place to recognize the state of Palestine, since according to it it should be established after an agreement in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The administration of President Joe Biden is also citing a US law that requires it to cut off funding to the UN if the Security Council accepts the inclusion of a Palestinian state without a bilateral agreement.

In September 2011, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, initiated a process for the “admission of the State of Palestine to the UN”. The effort was never completed; the Palestinians were eventually granted, by a vote of the General Assembly in November 2012, “non-member observer state status”.

“All we ask is to take our rightful place within the community of nations,” Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said earlier this week.