A triumph for Palestinian diplomacy

But the vote, at least for now, did little to bring either the Palestinians or the Israelis closer to the goal they claim to seek: two states living side by side, or increased Palestinian unity.

Israel and the Hamas group both responded critically to the day’s events, though for different reasons. The new status will give the Palestinians more tools to challenge Israel in international legal forums for its occupation activities in the West Bank, including colony-building, and it helped bolster the Palestinian National Authority, weakened after eight days of battle between its rival Hamas and Israel.

But even as a small but determined crowd of 2,000 celebrated in central Ramallah in the West Bank, waving flags and dancing, there was an underlying sense of concerned resignation.

”I hope this is good,” said Munir Shafie, 36, an electrical engineer who was there. “But how are we going to benefit?”

Still, the General Assembly vote — 138 countries in favour, nine opposed and 41 abstaining — showed impressive backing for the Palestinians at a difficult time. It was taken on the 65th anniversary of the vote to divide the former British mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, a vote Israel considers the international seal of approval for its birth.

The past two years of Arab uprisings have marginalised the Palestinian cause to some extent as nations that focused their political aspirations on the Palestinian struggle have turned inward. The vote on Thursday, coming so soon after the Gaza fighting, put the Palestinians again — if briefly, perhaps — at the centre of international discussion.

”The question is, where do we go from here and what does it mean?” Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, who was in New York for the vote, said in an interview. “The sooner the tough rhetoric of this can subside and the more this is viewed as a logical consequence of many years of failure to move the process forward, the better.”

He said nothing would change without deep US involvement. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to the assembly’s member nations, said, “The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the state of Palestine,” and he condemned what he called Israeli racism and colonialism.His remarks seemed aimed in part at Israel and in part at Hamas. But both quickly attacked him for the parts they found offensive.

”The world watched a defamatory and venomous speech that was full of mendacious propaganda against the Israel Defence Forces and the citizens of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel responded. “Someone who wants peace does not talk in such a manner.” While Hamas had officially backed the UN bid of Abbas, it quickly criticised his speech because the group does not recognise Israel.

”There are controversial issues in the points that Abbas raised, and Hamas has the right to preserve its position over them,” Salah Al Bardaweel, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, said. Source: Gulf News