(Communicated by the MFA Spokesperson)
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), the United Nations specialized agency for the postal sector, today (Friday, 13 September 2019) rejected the Palestinian application from 27 March 2019 to join the organization.
Acceptance UN Member States to the UPU of is automatic, so all 192 UN members are also members of the UPU. According to the rules of the organization, bids for membership by non-UN Member States must be supported by 2/3 of the members, a minimum of 128 countries. The Palestinian request to join was sent to the Member States in early April and they were given 4 months to respond. Countries that do not respond to the request are considered abstentions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiated a campaign with UPU members that prevented the Palestinians from obtaining the majority required to join.
According to the official results published today, 56 members supported the request, 7 opposed and 23 abstained. A further 103 members did not respond and were therefore regarded as abstentions.
The Palestinian Authority obtained less than half of the votes required for acceptance to the UPU, therefore their application was rejected.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz welcomed the rejection of the Palestinian application, and emphasized that the real goal of the Palestinian Authority in joining international organizations is to circumvent the need to resume negotiations with Israel and to use its membership in the organizations to divert the professional agenda of those organizations and to attack Israel, something that Israel will not permit.