Diplomatic sources said that the UN Security Council will hold a session tomorrow, Thursday, to vote on a draft resolution recommending granting Palestine membership in the United Nations, at a time when a committee affiliated with the Council said that it was unable to provide a unanimous recommendation on whether the Palestinian Authority’s request in this regard meets the standards.

The Council meeting comes in response to a request submitted by the Palestinian Authority in early April to reconsider the application it submitted in 2011 for full membership in the United Nations, although the United States, which has veto power, has explicitly expressed its opposition to this effort.

On Tuesday evening, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations published - on its account on the

The Arab Group said in its letter, "We call on all Council members to vote in favor of the draft resolution submitted by Algeria on behalf of the Arab Group on Tuesday evening, and at the very least, we appeal to Council members not to obstruct this basic initiative."

According to the Palestinian mission, the Algerian draft resolution “recommends” the General Assembly to accept “the State of Palestine as a member of the United Nations.”

A country is accepted as a member of the United Nations by a decision issued by the General Assembly by a two-thirds majority, but only after a positive recommendation to this effect from the UN Security Council.

According to the Palestinian Authority, 137 of the 193 member states of the United Nations have to date recognized the State of Palestine.

But this support is not enough to overcome the obstacle of the likely American veto in the Security Council to prevent the issuance of a positive recommendation to accept Palestine’s membership.

In conjunction with the Arab Group's statement, the Security Council Committee concerned with accepting new members, consisting of all Council members, agreed to issue its report yesterday, Tuesday, after meeting twice last week to discuss the Palestinian request.

“With regard to the question of whether the application meets all membership criteria... the committee was unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council,” the report stated, adding that “divergent views were expressed.”

Diplomats said that the Palestinian Authority is still expected to urge the 15-member Security Council to vote on a draft resolution recommending that it become a full member of the international organization.

Obtaining membership will represent effective recognition of the Palestinian state.

The Palestinians currently have the status of a non-member observer state, after the 193-member United Nations General Assembly recognized Palestine in 2012.