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U.N. General Assembly Votes in Favor of Palestinian Statehood

  • Religion Today Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Nov 30, 2012

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to approve a resolution to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations from "entity" to "non-member state," implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state, Reuters reports. There were 138 votes in favor, 41 abstentions and nine votes against the resolution. Granting Palestinians the title of "non-member observer state" falls short of full U.N. membership, but allows them access to the International Criminal Court, the World Bank and other international bodies. "The ICC issue is what the Israelis are really worried about," a U.N. official said on condition of anonymity. "They know this whole process isn’t really symbolic except for that." Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas led the campaign to win support for the resolution, which took place on the 65th anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly’s passage of the plan to partition the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.