Despite objections from US and Israel, 138 nations vote to approve statehood

The vote is in. In a victory for its right to self-determination in the international arena, Palestine has been granted observer-state status at the United Nations, after 138 general assembly member states—an overwhelming majority—voted to approve the designation.

As a sign of increasing momentum for an independent Palestine state, dozens of countries voiced their support for the bid in the days preceding the vote.

Contrasting that global trend and amplifying its outlier status, the United States—which lobbied hard against the Palestinian bid and predictably voted in opposition—remained unmoved by Palestine's aspirations, siding with its longtime ally Israel in the vote. Seven other countries voted against including Panama, Palau, Canada, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Czech Republic and Micronesia.

The new UN status will allow Palestine voting rights in the world body, including access to the International Criminal Court. According to Russia Today, Israel is "bitterly opposed" to the recognition "fearing a possible investigation into war crimes committed by the Jewish state" in Gaza.

Al Jazeera writes, that such status is an "indirect recognition of their claims on statehood in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip," and could provide an avenue through which Palestine might reclaim the occupied territories.

"We are humbled by this historic support," Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Malki, told the UN's general assembly today.


Palestinians were previously listed as a UN observer "entity" with no voting rights.

The vote is being held on the 65th anniversary of the UN vote to partition what was previously British-ruled Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation executive committee, argues that the pursuit of statehood is both a human right and a necessary diplomatic step to reaching unity in the region:


THE REST:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/29-9

It's time the US gets out of the UN.

I wish the Palestinans well.

I don't see how this is going to stop Israel from bombing them out of existence, but its a start I guess.

Just a stupid and pointless gesture. The result was a foregone conclusion.
It is an attempt to make progress toward statehood without recognizing
Israel or negotiating a real settlement so it is doomed to fail.

Since it was going to happen anyway a number of countries went along with
it rather than irritating the block of Islamic states who could retaliate
diplomatically and economically.

Gaza and the West Bank are already governed by Palestinians.

Oh well the Palestinians have always been more interested in denying and
attacking Israel rather than advancing their own society and working toward
real peace.

The real issue is now that they have this useless vote what are they going
to actually do to advance peace.

Not much I guess since they'd rather stroke themselves at the UN than sit
down at the negotiation table.

Does it do anything to advance peace? No. So go ahead throw some candy and
celebrate - it is a great day for Abbas. Really lifts his stature to
elevated heights. What a stroke of genius!



Another Palestinian useless propaganda coup!!

Palestine is still not a member of the U.N., and, thus, it does not have U.N. voting rights.

From CNN:

Once again the US and Israel are on the wrong side of history.

Thank you rest of world.

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me." -- Martin Niemoller, German anti--Nazi pastor during World War II

Fatah and the Palestinians have sought unilateral action rather than
to sit down and negotiate an equitable solution to the conflict. Since
the Palestinians refuse to accept Israel as a permanent Jewish state,
Israel now has no incentive to work with them at all.

Op-ed: General Assembly granted non-member observer status to state that doesn’t exist
Noah Klieger
Published: 11.30.12, 14:13 / Israel Opinion
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4313820,00.html[/ur]


What's all the fuss about? There is no need to panic. So the UN recognized the West Bank as a non-member observer state. Big deal. Does this status give (half of) the Palestinians a state? Of course not. Does it grant them financial independence? Don't make us laugh.


So what actually happened here? The UN General Assembly, an impotent body without any authority, passed a ridiculous and completely illogical resolution that grants observer status to a state that does not even exist – and will never exist unless it reaches an agreement with Israel. Not with the UN. With Israel. Without Israel's consent there is no Palestinian state, regardless of how many countries support it in the General Assembly.


The General Assembly will solve nothing, just as it hasn’t solved anything else in the past. Syria is a good example. What did UN chief Ban-Ki-moon and his envoys achieve there? Nothing. Assad simply ignored them, just as Ban's predecessors were ignored when they tried to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, such as Rwanda and Sudan.


What's all the fuss about? There is no need to panic. So the UN recognized the West Bank as a non-member observer state. Big deal. Does this status give (half of) the Palestinians a state? Of course not. Does it grant them financial independence? Don't make us laugh.


So what actually happened here? The UN General Assembly, an impotent body without any authority, passed a ridiculous and completely illogical resolution that grants observer status to a state that does not even exist – and will never exist unless it reaches an agreement with Israel. Not with the UN. With Israel. Without Israel's consent there is no Palestinian state, regardless of how many countries support it in the General Assembly.


The General Assembly will solve nothing, just as it hasn’t solved anything else in the past. Syria is a good example. What did UN chief Ban-Ki-moon and his envoys achieve there? Nothing. Assad simply ignored them, just as Ban's predecessors were ignored when they tried to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, such as Rwanda and Sudan.


Joseph Stalin's aides once told him that the pope will not approve of the steps he was about to take. The dictator replied: "How many divisions does the pope have?" How many divisions does the UN have? The only ones who can "physically" intervene in any conflict with a fair amount of success are the Americans. This has been proven on numerous occasions.


The General Assembly is not only impotent, it is also scandalously one-sided. When Ahmadinejad, the leader of one of the member states, demands to wipe Israel - another member state - off the map, the representatives of the majority of member states react with either enthusiasm or indifference. No one calls to put the Iranian leader on trial.


As for the claims that the Israeli government was "caught off guard," "responded too late" and that it "didn't read the map correctly," let's be honest. Had Israel launched its efforts to block Abbas' initiative "on time," would the outcome of the UN General Assembly's vote have been any different? In an Assembly consisting of 60 Muslim nations and dozens of pro-Arab states – the game was fixed.

If the UN General Assembly is an impotent body without any "authority" then what is the point of it? Get rid of it completely.

And why does Palestine require Israel's consent to exist?

Why should Israel have a right to exist as a state if they don't want to Palestine to have a right to exist as a state?

Fair is fair.

Okay how would Israel feel if we all decided it didn't have a right to exist?

This is all so absurd.

So you are saying that Palestine should accept Israel as a ("Jewish")state but Israel should not have to accept Palestine as a state.

Does that seem fair to you? It doesn't to me.

Israel is saying "We have a right to exist, but you don't."

How absurd.

The Israelis formerly accept having a peaceful Palestinian neighbor
state. Israel is not opposed to a Palestinian state at all.

The Palestinians and other neighboring Arab state are opposed to a
peaceful Jewish state of Israel however on religious grounds.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others do NOT accept having a peaceful
Jewish state of Israel as a neighbor state no matter what the
borders. It is in their charter and they openly talk about their
ultimate goal being the elimination of Israel and getting rid of
the Jewish presence in Israel when speaking in Arabic.

"Despite objections from US and Israel, 138 nations vote to approve statehood "

um.... if they are "not apposed at all" then why do they object to it and vote against it?



The Palestinians don't object to a peaceful Jewish state of Israel, why would they? They object to the idea that Israel's "religion" thinks that God gave them the promised land and that they have a right to all of the Holy land. The Arabs believe the Jews rewrote the Bible in their own favor.

Religious grounds? Um... probably. Israel is using their own religious grounds to claim that they have the right to the land.




If you have a pushy neighbor who wants to rule the neighborhood and ultimately wants to run you out of it, who would want to make peace on those terms?

Nobody likes obnoxious pushy neighbors.

If we could ever elect a president with balls the U.S. would cut off all funding to the un, then we'd find out real quick how much back bone the un has.

good for palestine, seems like that was the orginal intention anyway,, a state for jews and a palestinian state,,,

who doesnt want to be acknowledged in the global political world?

I hope it is the beginning of a trend of inclusion, although I am doubting ISrael will allow it,, judging by their reactions,,