The United Nations General Assembly yesterday, November 29, 2012 voted “yes” to a resolution upgrading Palestine’s diplomatic status to non-member State despite strong opposition from the US and Israel, France 24 Television reported. Analysts had earlier predicted that the application would win approval in the 193-member body because it needed only a simple majority to go through.
The Palestinian Authority had sought UN recognition for a Palestinian State in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, the lands Israel captured in 1967. Opponents of the bid had argued that a Palestinian State should only emerge out of bilateral negotiations. The approval of Palestine’s "non-member observer state" status however falls short of full U.N. membership - something Palestinians failed to achieve last year when a vote in the UN Security Council was vetoed by America. The passing of yesterday’s resolution now allows Palestine access to the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands and other international bodies, should it choose to join them, the BBC said.
Prior to the resolution that has changed Palestine’s U.N. observer status from an “entity” to a "non-member State" like the Vatican, the US and Israel had threatened to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding much-needed funds from the West Bank-based government. In their draft resolution, Palestinians pledged to relaunch the peace process with Israel immediately after the U.N. vote.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton repeated to reporters in Washington on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 that the U.S. viewed that the Palestinian move as misguided and that efforts should instead focus on reviving the stalled Middle East peace process. Hanan Ashrawi, a top Palestinian Liberation Organisation official, told a news conference earlier in the Palestinian capital, Ramallah, that "Palestinians can't be blackmailed all the time with money." She announced that the Palestinian Authority has been talking to the Arab world about their support in case Israel responded with financial sanctions. She said the European Union had indicated it will not stop its support to Palestine.
