US says UN not route for Palestinian state

The United States on Wednesday opposed a Palestinian push for full membership at the United Nations, with Washington saying it backed statehood but after negotiations with Israel. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 04 April 2024
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US says UN not route for Palestinian state

  • "We support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters
  • Miller said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been actively engaged in establishing "security guarantees" for Israel as part of the groundwork for a Palestinian state

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday opposed a Palestinian push for full membership at the United Nations, with Washington saying it backed statehood but after negotiations with Israel.
"We support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
"That is something that should be done through direct negotiations through the parties, something we are pursuing at this time, and not at the United Nations," he said, without explicitly saying that the United States would veto the bid if it reaches the Security Council.
Miller said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been actively engaged in establishing "security guarantees" for Israel as part of the groundwork for a Palestinian state.
President Joe Biden's administration has increasingly highlighted support for a Palestinian state, with a reformed Palestinian Authority in charge both in the West Bank and Gaza, as it looks for a way to close the ongoing war in which its ally Israel is seeking to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for decades resisted a Palestinian state and leads a far-right government with members hostile to the Palestinian Authority, which holds limited autonomy in sections of the West Bank.
Under longstanding legislation by the US Congress, the United States is required to cut off funding to UN agencies that give full membership to a Palestinian state.
The law has been applied selectively. The United States cut off funding in 2011 and later withdrew from the UN cultural and scientific agency UNESCO, but President Joe Biden's administration returned, saying it was better to be present.
Robert Wood, the US deputy representative to the United Nations, said that recognition of a Palestinian state by the world body as a whole would mean "funding would be cut off to the UN system, so we're bound by US law."
"Our hope is that they don't pursue that, but that's up to them," Wood said of the Palestinians' bid.
The Palestinian Authority has submitted a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asking for the Security Council to reconsider a longstanding application for statehood in April.
Any request to become a UN member state must first be recommended by the Security Council -- where Israel's primary backer the United States as well as and four other countries wield vetoes -- and then endorsed by a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas launched the statehood application in 2011. It was not considered by the Security Council but the General Assembly the following year granted observer status to the "State of Palestine."

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Pressure builds for answers over Swiss bar fire after victims identified

Updated 1 min 16 sec ago
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Pressure builds for answers over Swiss bar fire after victims identified

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All 40 victims of New Year fire now identified

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Prosecutors say ‘fountain candles’ likely cause of blaze

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Most of victims of bar fire were teenagers, youngest 14

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Couple who ran the bar under criminal investigation

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland: Pressure was building for answers on Monday from the investigation into a New Year bar fire in a Swiss ski resort that killed 40 people, after authorities said they had now identified all the victims, most of whom were teenagers.
The Alpine getaway of Crans-Montana in the canton of Valais united in mourning on Sunday with condolences coming in from leaders ranging from Pope Leo to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Prosecutors said the fire that spread rapidly in the ‌early hours of January ‌1 was likely caused by sparkling candles igniting the ‌ceiling ⁠of ​the ‌bar’s basement.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Authorities are investigating the two people who ran the bar on suspicion of crimes including homicide by negligence. On Sunday, police said circumstances did not currently merit them being put under arrest and they did not see a flight risk.
On Monday morning, Swiss newspaper Blick said anger over the case was growing.
“Why are the couple running the bar free?” the paper said on its front page, pasted over ⁠a photo of mourners and media gathered around the huge pile of flowers left in front of the “Le ‌Constellation” bar.
The youngest victims of the blaze, which ‍also injured well over 100 people, ‍were only 14 years old, and the dead were from all around Europe, ‍including several from France and Italy. Swiss authorities have not named the victims.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said in a social media post that “in civilized Switzerland, the prison gates will have to open for quite a few people.”
Salvini said there had been a ​failure to ensure the bar’s basement was safe, questioning the emergency systems and whether there had been enough inspections.

SILENT PROCESSION
Aika Chappaz, a local ⁠resident who took part in a silent procession through the town on Sunday, said justice must be done for the sake of future generations.
“It’s crucial that such a tragedy never happens again. And the investigation must be thorough, because it’s so unbelievable,” she said.
Tages-Anzeiger, another leading Swiss newspaper, said questions must be answered about the age checks at the bar, the soundproofing material used in the basement and the standards governing use of the so-called fountain candles.
One of the bar’s two operators, Jacques Moretti, told Swiss media that Le Constellation had been checked three times in 10 years and that everything was done according to the rules.
Valais authorities say investigators were checking ‌if the bar had undergone its annual building inspections, but that the town had not raised concerns or reported defects to the canton.