Palestine envoy withdraws candidacy for UNGA presidency under US, Israel pressure

Palestine’s ambassador to the United Nations has withdrawn his candidacy for the presidency of the UN General Assembly following pressure from the United States and Israel.

As a result, two candidates remain in the race – Cypriot ambassador Andreas Kakouris and Bangladeshi ambassador Mohammed Touhid Hossain.

While little power is associated with the post of General Assembly president, it is considered a prestigious appointment.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, celebrated Mansour’s withdrawal in a post on X, claiming that his candidacy was “yet another attempt to turn the UN General Assembly into a political circus against Israel and to bolster the status of the Palestinian delegation through the back door”.

He also launched a personal attack on Mansour, claiming that the Palestinian ambassador was engaged in “self-promotion and the systematic erosion of the credibility of the international institution.”

Mansour made no comment regarding his withdrawal.

Last week, he told the UN Security Council that Israel had “chosen annexation over peace” and called for action to stop it from taking over more land in the West Bank and building and expanding illegal settlements.

He also said that Israel was deliberately trying to undermine the ceasefire in Gaza with its continued daily attacks on the Palestinian territory, which have killed over 600 people since last October, and its refusal to allow in food, fuel, and medicine and other humanitarian aid.

He warned that Palestinians are being pushed into increasingly shrinking areas despite their growing population, and that Israel speaks of control “from the river to the sea” and argued that Israel should be responded to with an affirmation by the international community that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are the territory of the State of Palestine.

He said that failure to take decisive action would mean that the two-state solution would become an “illusion”.