[LST] Palestinians win implicit U.N. recognition of sovereign state

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Palestinians win implicit U.N.
recognition of sovereign state
Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:42am IST
1 of 3
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-
nation U.N. General Assembly on
Thursday overwhelmingly approved the
de facto recognition of a sovereign
Palestinian state after Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas called on the
world body to issue its long overdue
"birth certificate."
There were 138 votes in favor, nine
against and 41 abstentions. Three
countries did not take part in the vote to
upgrade the Palestinian Authority's
observer status at the United Nations to
"non-member state" from "entity."
The assembly approved the upgrade
despite threats by the United States and
Israel to punish the Palestinians by
withholding funds for the West Bank
government. U.N. envoys said Israel
might avoid harsh retaliation as long as
the Palestinians did not seek to join the
International Criminal Court.
The much-anticipated vote came after
Abbas denounced Israel for its
"aggressive policies and the perpetration
of war crimes" from the U.N. podium,
remarks that elicited a furious response
from the Jewish state.
"Sixty-five years ago on this day, the
United Nations General Assembly
adopted resolution 181, which partitioned
the land of historic Palestine into two
states and became the birth certificate for
Israel," Abbas told the 193-nation
assembly after receiving a standing
ovation.
"The General Assembly is called upon
today to issue a birth certificate of the
reality of the State of Palestine," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu responded quickly,
condemning Abbas' critique of Israel as
"hostile and poisonous," and full of "false
propaganda."
"These are not the words of a man who
wants peace," Netanyahu also said in a
statement released by his office in Israel.
At least 17 European nations voted in
favor of the Palestinian resolution,
including Austria, France, Italy, Norway
and Spain. Abbas had focused his lobbying
efforts on Europe, which supplies much of
the aid the Palestinian Authority relies on.
Britain, Germany and others chose to
abstain.
The Czech Republic was unique in Europe,
joining the United States, Israel, Canada,
Panama and tiny Pacific Island states likes
Nauru, Palau and Micronesia in voting
against the move.
After the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations Susan Rice called for the
immediate resumption of peace talks.
"The Palestinian people will wake up
tomorrow and find that little about their
lives has changed save that the prospects
of a durable peace have only receded,"
she said.
"The United States calls upon both the
parties to resume direct talks without
preconditions on all the issues that divide
them and we pledge that the United
States will be there to support the parties
vigorously in such efforts," Rice said.
She added that both parties should "avoid
any further provocative actions in the
region, in New York or elsewhere."