Palestine is a non-member observer state at the United Nations
New York City (AsiaNews) - With 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions, the General Assembly of the United Nations has accepted Palestine as non-member observer state. Until now it was only recognized as an observer through the Palestinian Authority (PA), represented by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Recognition as a non-member implies the recognition of the state within the 1967 borders, before the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem and the West Bank.
In his appeal to the Assembly, Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president, said that "sixty-five years ago on this day [November 29], the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which partitioned the land in historic Palestine in two States and became the birth certificate for Israel ... Today the General Assembly is called upon to issue the birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine." Abbas also said that the Palestinians' request comes from the desire for peace. "Enough," he added, "of aggression, settlements and occupation."
Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the UN, liquidated the Palestinian request as empty "symbolism", adding that "no UN decision can break 4,000 year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel." He then said that his country is determined to seek peace, but "we won't establish another Iranian terror base in the heart of our country."
The same thought was expressed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, adding that the UN vote "won't change anything on the ground."
In fact, the overwhelming vote in favor of Palestine reveals a certain isolation of the Israeli government in the international community. The votes against the measure come from some old friends of Israel, the United States, Canada and a number of small entities such as Nauru, Palau, Panama, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. The proposal was also opposed by the Czech Republic, the only European country to vote against it.
Many European countries voted in favor, including Italy, Spain and France; Britain and Germany abstained.
The U.N. session was welcomed by festivities, fireworks and dancing in Ramallah, the seat of the PA, and in other Palestinian cities. In Bethlehem, Abbas's speech was projected on the wall that divides the city from Jewish Jerusalem.
Israel's fear is that with the increase of its status, Palestine can enter the International Court of Justice at the Hague and begin a series of trials against the occupation of Palestinian land by Israeli settlers. Israel, for its part, has already threatened to no longer recognize the Oslo Accords, to block the payment of taxes to the PA [currently, in the Occupied Territories, they are collected by Israel], and to block the entry of thousands of Palestinians that every day go to work in Israel.
U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly threatened the cancellation of aid for Palestinian refugees to international agencies that recognize Palestine as a state.
In his speech to the UN, Abbas did not mention the International Court, but Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian Foreign Minister, told the press that if Israel continues to build illegal settlements, the Palestinians could also choose to defend itself this way.
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06/11/2009
