United Nations Recognizes State of Palestine
By EDITH M. LEDERER
| Thursday, Nov 29, 2012 | Updated 5:49 PM EST
nbcphiladelphia.com (29/11/2012) The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to
recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the
Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United
States.The resolution upgrading the
Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations
was approved by a more than two-thirds majority of the 193-member world
body — a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions. A Palestinian flag was quickly
unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian
delegation. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, hundreds crowded into the
main square waved Palestinian flags and chanted "God is great." Others
who had crowded around outdoor screens and television sets to watch the
vote hugged, honked and set off fireworks before dancing in the streets.
Real independence, however, remains
an elusive dream until the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal with the
Israelis, who warned that the General Assembly action will only delay a
lasting solution. Israel still controls the West Bank, east Jerusalem
and access to Gaza, and it accused the Palestinians of bypassing
negotiations with the campaign to upgrade their U.N. status. The United States immediately
criticized the historic vote. "Today's unfortunate and counterproductive
resolution places further obstacles in the path peace," U.N. Ambassador
Susan Rice said. And U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
called the vote "unfortunate" and "counterproductive."The United States and Israel voted
against recognition, joined by Canada, the Czech Republic, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Panama.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu called the speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to
the General Assembly shortly before the vote "defamatory and venomous,"
saying it was "full of mendacious propaganda" against Israel. He called
the vote meaningless. Abbas had told the General Assembly
that it was "being asked today to issue the birth certificate of
Palestine." Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state
solution. After the vote, Netanyahu said the
UN move violated past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and
that Israel would act accordingly, without elaborating what steps it
might take. Just before the vote, Israel's U.N.
ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned the General Assembly that "the
Palestinians are turning their backs on peace" and that the U.N. can't
break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land
of Israel.
The vote had been certain to
succeed, with most of the member states sympathetic to the Palestinians.
Several key countries, including France, this week announced they would
support the move to elevate the Palestinians from the status of U.N.
observer to nonmember observer state. Thursday's vote came on the same
day, Nov. 29, that the U.N. General Assembly in 1947 voted to recognize a
state in Palestine, with the jubilant revelers then Jews. The
Palestinians rejected that partition plan, and decades of tension and
violence have followed. The vote grants 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 Mideast
war. With Netanyahu opposed to a pullback to the 1967 lines, this should
strengthen Abbas' hand if peace talks resume.
The overwhelming vote also could
help Abbas restore some of his standing, which has been eroded by years
of standstill in peace efforts. His rival, Hamas, deeply entrenched in
Gaza, has seen its popularity rise after an Israeli offensive on targets
linked to the Islamic militant group there earlier this month. Israel has stepped back from initial
threats of harsh retaliation for the Palestinians seeking U.N.
recognition, but government officials warned that Israel would respond
to any Palestinian attempts to use the upgraded status to confront
Israel in international bodies.The Palestinians now can gain access
to U.N. 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. However, in the run-up to the U.N.
vote, Abbas signaled that he wants recognition to give him leverage in
future talks with Israel, and not as a tool for confronting or
delegitimizing Israel, as Israeli leaders have alleged.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,
right, shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the U.N.