The US veto this Thursday frustrated a vast diplomatic offensive at the UN to grant Palestine the status of full member of the organization. Despite the clear majority of support among the 15 members of the Security Council - twelve voted in favor and two, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, abstained - the US vote against was enough to derail the Palestinian request.

The admission of a new member had not been vetoed since 1976, when US President Gerald Ford urged his UN representation to block Vietnam's membership application. Almost half a century later, history repeats itself in the middle of another war. The United States has kept its word and prevented the initiative sponsored by Algeria, on behalf of the Arab group and those registered in the group of non-aligned countries, from coming to fruition. The head of Spanish diplomacy defended this Thursday in New York that it is the right time and the necessary step towards the political solution supported by the majority of the international community, that of the two States. The war situation gives more urgency to the need to recognize Palestine, according to diplomatic sources. Spain's will be a unilateral declaration, but in coordination with the UN and the group of Arab countries. After the US veto, Palestine will continue to be a permanent observer state at the UN, a status that allows it to participate in all the organization's procedures, except in voting on draft resolutions and decisions in its main organs and agencies. Even if its request for accession were referred to the Assembly, its status would not change, because the plenary cannot adopt legally binding decisions as the Security Council can. The ongoing process, momentarily slowed by Washington's veto, is a continuation of the one begun in September 2011, when the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, sent a letter requesting membership in the UN to the then head of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, who quickly forwarded the request to the Security Council and the General Assembly.