International support grows for Palestinian bid for United Nations

International support is building for a Palestinian bid for United Nations recognition Thursday, a historic vote that is likely to pass easily.

A growing list of European countries – including France, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland, pledging to back Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s request to go from observer entity to non-member observer state.

The vote “implies recognition of statehood and it gives them certain privileges” and “a certain prestige,” said Vera Jelinek, dean of New York University’s Center for Global Affairs.

The support comes amid strenuous objections from Canada, the United States and Israel, which say a Palestinian state should only emerge out of bilateral negotiations.

UN recognition of their statehood would elevate the Palestinians to the same status as the Vatican, another non-member observer state. It would also give the Palestinians access to a range of UN agencies and also potentially the International Criminal Court.

The vote comes just a week after a cease-fire ended eight days of punishing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and intense rocketing of the Jewish state by Gaza’s Hamas rulers that reached Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The bid is a last-ditch attempt to rescue troubled Mideast peace efforts, a Palestinian spokeswoman said Wednesday, rejecting Israel’s charge that it is an attempt to bypass negotiations.

Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly and the resolution is virtually certain of approval. The 193-member world body is dominated by countries sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and the resolution only requires a majority vote for approval.

However, a country’s vote to raise the Palestinian status at the UN does not imply its individual recognition of a Palestinian state, something that must be done bilaterally. To date, 132 countries — over two-thirds of the UN member states — have recognized the state of Palestine.

The vote is taking place while the Palestinians themselves remain bitterly divided: Hamas, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, claimed victory in the recent conflict and raised its standing in the Arab world, while the rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, which controls the West Bank, remained sidelined.

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Posted by Web Desk on Nov 29 2012. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.