Source Huffington Post:
Just nine nations voted against the Palestinian Authority’s upgrade to nonvoting observer state status, which passed the General Assembly 138-9, with 41 abstentions.
Voting “no” Thursday were Israel, the United States and Canada, joined by the Czech Republic, Panama and several Pacific island nations: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. The Pacific nations typically support the U.S. and Israel at the U.N. on key General Assembly resolutions. Read further in the Huffington Post.
Source: CNN
By Fareed Zakaria
The Palestinian Authority has won its campaign to be recognized as a non-member state of the United Nations. The question now is whether this will change anything.
Probably no. It will give the Palestinians a little more recognition and greater legal status in certain international fora. But the vote doesn’t change the reality that the only way the Palestinians are going to get a state is if Israel decides that it is in its interests to make it happen. Israel has the power on the ground, The country’s leaders have made it clear that they are not going to be pressured by the UN, defeated in battle, they are not going to be intimidated, they are not going to be terrorized – I think the history of the last three decades has made all of this very clear.
So the question the Palestinians should be asking themselves is, how do we get the Israelis to see this as in their interests?
There was an intriguing column earlier this week by Jeffrey Goldberg, who makes a suggestion that has also been made by some Palestinians in the past, that the Palestinians should stop pushing for a two-state solution, and instead push for a one-state answer.
Here’s how I would imagine the scenario unfolding: Mahmoud Abbas would announce that he is dissolving the Palestinian Authority in three months because he has recognized that there is no prospect that it will lead to a state under the current framework. He would also explain that he is returning all obligations and authority to the state of Israel.
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The question Abbas needs to be asking is not whether the Palestinians can get Ban Ki-moon to give them a state, but can they get Benjamin Netanyahu to give them one? Read the whole story in CNN
The Muslim Times’ answer to Fareed Zakaria
If the Muslim Times can answer the question on behalf of Mahmoud Abbas then this is how we will state it. The reason Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will want to give Palestinians a state is because Israel does not want to be on the wrong side of history, in struggle of human rights for every resident of this planet and Israel will not want to defy a popular public opinion in the world.
How can we explain the map in the above picture? In a few words:
2. Durban I and Durban III.
The Muslim Times cannot over emphasize the necessity of non-violence in all Palestinian initiatives, otherwise they lose much of the good will or political capital, they have gathered in the world.
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The position of Israel is strange. If they do not give Palestine a state than the territory will end up as part of the one state, and then the Arabs will soon be in the majority.
Israel must realise that world opinion is increasing in favour of Palestine. Actually today, if Israel is getting support from nations , it is because of US is with them. This unconditional support of Israel by US is harming US itself.
I congratulate Palestinians for winning this international support in UN.
I hope it would have somehow staggered US foreign diplomats confidence to make consistent use of the phrase “people of the world” for then (even then they are 4 to 10 nations) whenever they address their opponents (China, Iran, North Korea etc.).
Its a mere diplomatic humiliation if they real feel it.