New Delhi, July 15 -- Palestinian Ambassador to India Abdullah M Abu Shawesh said the principal obstacle to Palestine becoming a full member of the United Nations is the United States, arguing that Washington has blocked the process at the UN Security Council despite broad international support.

Abu Shawesh, while speaking to ANI, explained that the process for obtaining full UN membership involves three stages, of which Palestine has completed the first and sees no difficulty with the third.

"To have full recognition as a member state in the United Nations, you need to go through three steps. The first step is to submit the request to the Secretary-General himself, and we already passed this step," he said.

The second stage, he said, ...