United Nations votes to hoist Palestine flag

A resolution was adopted by member states with 119 in favor, eight voting against – including Israel and the United States – and 45 abstentions. France, Poland, Italy and Spain were among the European Union states that voted in favor of the resolution.

The resolution allows Palestine and the Holy See, both with non-member observer status, to hoist their flags alongside those of member states.

Palestinian representative to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour responded to the vote, saying, “It is a symbolic thing, but another step to solidify the pillars of the state of Palestine in the worldwide arena”, according to Al-Jazeera. That process, however, has largely been at a standstill since the deadly conflict in Gaza a year ago. The Palestinians have sponsored the resolution and hope President Mahmoud Abbas can raise their flag when he addresses the annual meeting of world leaders at the General Assembly on September 30.

“Britain, Germany and Austria abstained, while France, Sweden and Luxembourg voted in favour”.

“History proves to us that negotiations can be fruitful, that peace is possible, and that we can create a new reality for the people of the region”, he said.

Palestinians had been lobbying intensively to round up the needed votes for the initiative – which both Israel and the United States have firmly oposed.

In 2012, UN General Assembly granted an update of Palestine’s status to non-member state, which is an implicit and symbolic recognition of Palestine’s statehood at the UN.

Auza said the Holy See “didn’t have any intention to change the practice of the United Nations since its foundation, but we are not against the Palestinians asking for it”.

Prosor complained that the more the Palestinians say “no”, the more the global community “says “yes” to their every whim and caprice”.

As expected Israel and the USA slammed the vote calling it a mistake by the UN General Assembly and claiming that Palestinians are misusing the United Nations to attain their goal. Officially Washington does not want to seen to abandon a basically criminal state like Israel that kill Palestine children to help fascist minded and illegal settlers win in general elections. It is interesting to note that the only other country benefiting from this new rule is the Vatican, which signed its first formal bilateral treaty recognizing Palestinian statehood in May.

The last round of peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinians took place between July 2013 and April 2014.