Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to bring a bid for Palestinian statehood to the U.N. Security Council, part of the U.N. concerned with international security, Friday.
A mock U.N. event was held Thursday to give students more information on the Palestinian bid for statehood.
“What I wanted was to give students a chance to understand what the politics are behind it,” sustainability senior and event organizer Jenna Shadowitz said.
To pass the U.N. Security Council, Abbas would need to receive nine votes overall and no vetoes from the five permanent members of the council: China, France, Russia, Britain and the U.S.
The White House said that the U.S. will veto the bid if it happens.
Shadowitz said she wanted to spread understanding about the different positions each U.N. Security Council member has taken.
“If people understand what the argument is, then they should understand how to reach a solution,” she said.
Kinesiology senior Sam Rush attended the event on Thursday, along with around 15 other students.
“It gives students the opportunity to choose which side they like without having prior misconceptions or bias,” Rush said.
The Palestinian authority should be working on negotiations instead of trying to become a U.N. member state, Rush said.
“The conflict will never be solved if there is no direct negotiations,” she said. “The solution is not clear-cut and dry.”
Marketing junior Hayley Magerman also attended the event, and said the Palestinian community still has many political issues to work out before it should be thinking about statehood.
“It’s a big mistake on so many levels to be bypassing negotiations,” she said regarding the Palestinian bid. “In reality, you can’t have a divided government and you shouldn’t have terrorist groups running the population.”
There need to be steps taken on both sides to work together, talk directly without preconditions and actually think about the citizens, she said.
“Once they get over their differences and the governments really make an effort to work together, I think there can be some progress made,” Magerman said.
She said the U.S, veto shows its continued support for the best interests of the region.
“There’s so much tension, so much conflict and so much unrest that if there was any sort of solution it definitely would be unsustainable,” she said.
Rush said she hopes a two-state solution can be reached in her lifetime.
“I’d love to see it,” she said.
Reach the reporter at ryan.mccullough@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
