The UN Security Council is due to vote on April 18 on a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, said diplomats, a move that Israel and ally the United States is expected to block because it would effectively recognize a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the UN General Assembly in 2012. But an application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.
The Palestinian push for full UN membership comes six months into a war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.
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