Palestinians rejoice over newly won ‘state’ status

United Nations

Chicago Tribune

Palestinians rejoice over newly won ‘state’ status — Houston Chronicle, 30 November 2012 — Houston Chronicle · Houston, Texas · 30 November 2012

Transcribed from the clipping

“UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted by a lopsided margin over U.S. and Israeli objections to grant Palestinians a new, enhanced status that acknowledges their cherished goal of statehood.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas won 138 of the assembly’s 193 votes Thursday — including those of some key European states — for his proposal to have the group’s standing upgraded to ‘nonmember observer state’ from ‘nonmember observer entity.’

It was the use of the word ‘state’ that was most important to Palestinians. Abbas argued that the designation would amount to international recognition of the statehood that Palestinians have not been able to win through decades of negotiation. But it may have little practical effect on their ability to achieve it.

All the same, Palestinians danced in the streets, honked horns, hugged and set off fireworks. ‘Today we are a state!’ said Khalil Abdulsalam, 35, a government office worker in Ramallah, shouting to be heard over the celebrations. ‘Today we are a part of the international community and the rest of the world must see us as a state.’ NEW AVENUES OPEN.

The new status opens the way for the Palestinians to press their interests through U.N. organizations, and some have suggested that they might use the International Criminal Court to fight Israeli settlements or accuse Israel of war crimes.

But it remains unclear how aggressively Abbas will embrace a strategy that risks devastating retaliation from the United States and Israel. The normally cautious Abbas laid out his plan with ringing declarations about the rights of Palestinians, but with little hint of how far he intends to go.

The assembly was being asked ‘to issue a birth certificate to the reality of the state of Palestine,’ said Abbas, who received two standing ovations. The U.S. and Israel say that the Palestinians should achieve statehood only through direct negotiations with Israel, and consider the proposal a disruptive end-run around negotiations. TWO-YEAR BATTLE.

They were joined in voting against the proposal only by the Czech Republic, Canada, Panama, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Nauru. France, Spain, Italy and the Scandinavian countries were with the majority in the 138-9 vote. The United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands are among the 41 countries that abstained.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.N. had made an ‘unfortunate and counterproductive decision’ that placed ‘new obstacles in the path of peace.’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily denounced Abbas’ speech as ‘defamatory and venomous.’

‘Someone who wants peace does not talk in such a manner,’ said a statement from Netanyahu’s office. ‘The way to peace between Jerusalem and Ramallah is in direct negotiations, without preconditions, and not in one-sided U.N. decisions. By going to the U.N., the Palestinians have violated the agreements with Israel and Israel will act accordingly.’

The U.S. and Israel have fought the proposal for two years, but they also don’t want the collapse of Abbas’ government because they would then be left to deal with the militant group Hamas, which they formally designate as a terrorist organization. FINANCIAL FALLOUT.

Israeli officials warned they would react strongly if Abbas moved, for example, to use the International Criminal Court against them. Israeli officials also said this week they might temporarily withhold tax revenue transfers to recoup about $180 million in unpaid electricity bills, but that more punitive steps would be postponed.

U.S. lawmakers have held up more than $200 million in aid to the authority because of questions about the U.N. proposal and Fatah’s possible reconciliation with Hamas.”

Context added by this archive

One hundred and thirty-eight countries out of a hundred and ninety-three vote to call Palestine a state, and the headline puts the word in quotation marks.

The copy underneath is explicit that the word is the point: it was the use of the word ‘state’ that was most important to Palestinians. Abbas asks the assembly to issue a birth certificate to the reality of the state of Palestine and gets two standing ovations. The paper prints the quotation marks anyway.

The one ordinary Palestinian quoted, a government clerk in Ramallah named Khalil Abdulsalam, 35, uses the word without them:

‘Today we are a state!… the rest of the world must see us as a state.’

Cite this item

"Palestinians rejoice over newly won ‘state’ status," Houston Chronicle, 30 November 2012. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2012-005. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2012-005