On Thursday Nov 29,2012, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to ask the U.N. General Assembly to recognize Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but still controls most access
People wave Palestinian flags during a rally supporting the Palestinian U.N. bid for observer state status, in the West bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012
The Palestinians expect some two-thirds of the General Assembly's 193 members will accept Palestine as a non-member observer state.
The United States and Israel are strongly opposed, saying they fear it will only slow progress toward a peace deal.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been lobbying Western countries, particularly in Europe.
The UN general assembly is set to implicitly recognise a sovereign state of Palestine on Thursday despite threats by the USA and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds for the West Bank government.
A resolution to change the Palestinian Authority's UN observer status from "entity" to "non-member state," like the Vatican, is expected to pass easily in the 193-nation general assembly.
Note
Two-thirds of U.N. member nations have already recognized the state of Palestine.
US Stand on Palestinian Statehood Bid
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Wednesday that the U.N. vote will not fulfill the goal of independent Palestinian and Israeli states living side by side in peace, which the U.S. strongly supports because that requires direct negotiations.
"We need an environment conducive to that," she told reporters in Washington. "And we've urged both parties to refrain from actions that might in any way make a return to meaningful negotiations that focus on getting to a resolution more difficult."
Israel's Stand on Palestinian Statehood Bid
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said that by going to the U.N., the Palestinians violate "both the spirit and the word of signed agreements to solve issues through negotiations''
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the UN General Assembly before a vote on Palestinian non-member observer status
UN General Assembly Votes to Recognize Palestinian State
In his address to the General Assembly before the vote, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the vote will “issue a birth certificate of the reality of the state of Palestine”.
The vote comes on the same day that the UN observed the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Established
in 1977, the Day marks the date in 1947 when the Assembly adopted a
resolution partitioning then-mandated Palestine into two States, one
Jewish and one Arab.
Members of the UN General Assembly applaud after voting in favor of a UN resolution on Palestine
A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation.
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 Mideast war.
The vote could enable Palestine to access bodies like the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which prosecutes people for genocide, war crimes and major human rights violations.
The Vatican is the only other entity in the U.N. that shares the same status.
A television screen shows voting in the United Nations General Assembly. The United Nations voted overwhelmingly to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States.
Palestinians gather next to a section of Israeli separation barrier at the entrance to the west bank city of Bethlehem to watch a large screen showing the U.N. General Assembly votes on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state
Palestinians celebrate as they wave posters of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left, and President Mahmoud Abbas, right, as they watch the UN General Assembly votes on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state, in the west bank city of Ramallah
The State of Palestine
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor said his delegation could not accept the resolution “because this resolution is so one-sided, it doesn’t advance peace, it pushes it backwards''
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said “an important vote” has taken place in the General Assembly. “Today’s vote underscores the urgency of a resumption of meaningful negotiations. We must give new impetus to our collective efforts to ensure that an independent, sovereign, democratic, contiguous and viable State of Palestine lives side by side with a secure State of Israel''
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