Mahmoud Abbas (C), President of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Foreign Minister Reyad al-Maliki (R) and the Palestinian delegation react after a vote on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state during the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York: below: Palestinians watch on a projected TV screen as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks at the UN General Assembly, at Arafat Square in the West Bank town of Ramallah: photos EPA
“The adoption of the resolution in the current circumstances will not change the actual situation of Palestine,” says a statement by Poland's Foreign Ministry after the UN General Assembly voted by 138 for to 9 against, with 41 nations, including Poland, abstaining, to give Palestine the new status within the United Nations.
Other states who abstained included the UK and Germany.
The vote last night in New York, held on the 65th anniversary of the adoption of UN resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, came days after a ceasefire was agreed between the Israeli government and Hamas over the conflict in Gaza.
Poland's Foreign Ministry claimed that the vote to upgrade Palestinian status – a step closer towards recognising it as an independent state - “may, however, make it more difficult to return to direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, thereby halting progress in the peace process.
“We believe that the only effective way of resolving the Middle East peace process is through direct negotiations between the parties,” the statement continues,” as opposed to unilateral measures. We call on both sides to return to the negotiating table,” the Foreign Ministry says.
The assembly approved the upgrade despite threats by the United States and Israel, who both voted against the de facto recognition of the Palestinian state, to punish the Palestinians by withholding funds for the West Bank government.
As Palestinians celebrated in Gaza and West Bank, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the vote "unfortunate and counterproductive," and Istael's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “meaningless”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said, however, before the vote: "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. The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine."
Although abstaining in the vote, Poland emphasised its support for Palestinian aspirations.
“Poland acknowledges that the national aspirations of the Palestinian people should be based on the two state solution, accounting for the Jewish state of Israel and an independent, democratic Palestine.
“We offer our share of international aid, supporting efforts by Palestinian authorities to carry out institution building. Poland is one of the few countries in the European Union which for years has hosted a Palestinian embassy benefiting from diplomatic privileges and immunity,” the statement by the Foreign Ministry reads. (pg)