Palestinian statehood bid stillborn in Security Council

“Palestinian officials have admitted their bid for statehood in the United Nations in all likelihood has failed.

A UN Security Council committee that has been considering the Palestinian application for recognition as a member state was expected to issue a final statement last night saying that it had been unable to muster majority support for the bid.

The committee released a draft statement earlier this week that made the same point.

Without the approval of the Security Council, the Palestinian application for UN membership cannot be considered by the 193-nation General Assembly, where it probably would have been approved. Palestinian officials said they still hoped the Security Council would hold a vote to ''name and shame'' those who stood against them.

''We believed that those who do not think we deserve a state should say so publicly and not hide behind a technicality of not reaching a consensus,'' a spokesman for the Palestinians, Xavier Abu Eid, said. Such a vote seemed unlikely, however.”