The UN Security Council rejected Palestine’s bid for statehood, one report says

After the UN Security Council declared the Palestinian Authority’s bid for full membership dead, the group may possibly volunteer dismantle itself and hand its power over to Israel, the Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday. 

Coverage of the reported bid failure by other media outlets have been mum at the time this story was published. The AFP reported the Quartet (composed of the UN, US, EU and Russia) failed to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace-talks regarding settlement disputes but did not mention the condition of the PA statehood bid. 

GlobalPost detailed last week Israeli and international news outlets reported the Palestinian government was resigned to losing the UN Security Council vote.

More from GlobalPost: Palestinians consider dropping statehood bid 

The CS Monitor report cited Hani el-Masry, a Palestinian analyst said to be close to the PA, as saying the Palestinian civil affairs minister told members of the Israeli army the authority would start handing over health and education-related jurisdictions to Israel.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not dismantle the organization amid the speculations and declared Saturday he would resign if uncertainty over the UN bid emerges, according to the report:

“Both Abbas's threats of resignation and other calls for dismantling the PA, are considered brinkmanship because they threaten a vacuum of power in the West Bank that would be a headache for Israel and the international community. It also might reflect uncertainty over what to do now that the Palestinians' controversial campaign for UN membership is moving into a different phase.”

The PA was formed in 1994 as a five-year transitional government between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, but after more than 16 years, the group’s future remains unclear.