<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The U.N. General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestine's request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The world body approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions. The United States voted against it, along with Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The vote reflected the wide global support for full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, with many countries expressing outrage at the escalating death toll in Gaza and fears of a major Israeli offensive in Rafah, a southern city where about 1.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also demonstrated growing support for the Palestinians. A General Assembly resolution on Oct. 27 calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza was approved 120-14 with 45 abstentions. That was just weeks after Israel launched its military offensive in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While Friday’s resolution gives Palestine some new rights and privileges, it reaffirms that it remains a non-member observer state without full U.N. membership and the right to vote in the General Assembly or at any of its conferences. And the United States has made clear that it will block Palestinian membership and statehood until direct negotiations with Israel resolve key issues, including security, boundaries and the future of Jerusalem, and lead to a two-state solution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said Friday that for the U.S. to support Palestinian statehood, direct negotiations must guarantee Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state and that Palestinians can live in peace in a state of their own.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The U.S. also vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States considers Friday’s resolution an attempt to get around the Charter’s provisions, Wood reiterated Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unlike resolutions in the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly. Friday’s resolution required a two-thirds majority of members voting and got significantly more than the 118 vote minimum.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">U.S. allies supported the resolution, including France, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Australia, Estonia and Norway. But European countries were very divided.&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">. - AP&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>