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| Electronic screen lights up with the final vote and Ban Ki-moon congratulates Mahmoud Abbas |
In an extraordinary
lineup of international support, the UN General Assembly voted
overnight by a more than two-thirds majority to recognize the State of
Palestine within the 1967 borders, a
move vehemently opposed by Israel and the United States.
The 193-member world
body approved the resolution upgrading Palestine’s status to a nonmember
observer state at the United Nations late Thursday by a vote of 138 in
favor to 9 against, with 41 abstentions.
The vote was a victory
decades in the making for the Palestinians after years of occupation and
violence. It was a sharp rebuke for Israel and the United States.
The vote grants
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas an overwhelming international endorsement
for his key position: establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967
Arab-Israeli war.
A Palestinian flag was
quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian
delegation, after an electronic screen lit up with the final vote.
With its newly enhanced
status, the Palestinians can now gain access to UN agencies and international
bodies, most significantly the International Criminal Court, which could become
a springboard for going after Israel for alleged war crimes or its ongoing
settlement building on war-won land.
Abbas told the assembly
the vote was the "last chance to save the two-state solution" with
Israel.
Israel's envoy to the
UN said the bid pushed peace process "backwards," while U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the vote "unfortunate and
counter-productive.”
"Sixty-five years
ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181,
which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states [one Arab, the
other Jewish] and became the birth certificate for Israel," Abbas said
shortly before the vote in New York.
"The General
Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of
the State of Palestine," he said.
Joining Israel and the
United States in voting “no” were Canada, Czech Republic, Marshall Islands,
Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Panama.
Of the “Big Five”
permanent members of UN Security Council, three voted in favor (China, France
and Russia), one abstained (UK) and the fifth voted against (U.S.).
The vote highlighted
the lack of unity as well among the 27 member states of the European Union. But
it also marked a drain in sympathy for Israel in Europe.
Just one EU country --
the Czech Republic -- voted against Palestine upgrading its status within the
world body.
Fourteen others --
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Sweden -- voted in favor (as did non-EU
members Norway and Switzerland).
The remaining 12 EU
members -- notably Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and United
Kingdom -- abstained.
The vote grants the
Palestinians the same status at the UN as the Vatican, and they will keep their
seat next to the Holy See in the General Assembly chamber.
The Holy See promptly
issued a communiqué after the vote stating
in part: “Considering the outcome of today’s vote of the
General Assembly of the United Nations, and to encourage the International
Community, and in particular the Parties directly concerned, towards concrete
action in view of the aforementioned objectives, the Holy See welcomes with
favor the decision of the General Assembly by which Palestine has become a
Non-member Observer State of the United Nations.
“It is a propitious occasion to recall also
the common position that the Holy See and the Palestinian Liberation
Organization expressed in the Basic Agreement of 15 February 2000, intended to
support the recognition of an internationally-guaranteed special statute for
the City of Jerusalem, and aimed, in particular, to safeguarding the freedom of
religion and of conscience, the identity and sacred character of Jerusalem as a
Holy City, respect for and freedom of access to its Holy Places.”
