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U.N. recognizes state of Palestine
By The Associated Press
This article was originally published November 29, 2012 at 4:10 p.m. Updated November 29, 2012 at 5:06 p.m.
PHOTO BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President of the Palestinan National Authority Mahmoud Abbas addresses the U.N. General Assembly before the body's historic vote to recognize Palestine as its 194th State at U.N. Headquarters on Thursday.
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UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States.
The resolution upgrading the Palestinians’ status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by a more than two-thirds majority of the 193-member world body — a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions.
A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation. Jubilant Palestinians who crowded around outdoor screens and television sets to watch the vote hugged, honked and set off fireworks in celebration.
Real independence, however, remains an elusive dream until the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal with the Israelis, who warned that the General Assembly action will only delay a lasting solution. Israel still controls the West Bank, east Jerusalem and access to Gaza, and it accused the Palestinians of bypassing negotiations with the campaign to upgrade their U.N. status.
The United States immediately criticized the historic vote. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the vote “unfortunate” and “counterproductive.” U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to continue direct peace talks and said the vote did "not establish Palestine as a state."
Abbas had told the General Assembly that it was “being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine.” Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state solution.
After the vote, Netanyahu said the UN move violated past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and that Israel would act accordingly, without elaborating what steps it might take.
Just before the vote, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned the General Assembly that “the Palestinians are turning their backs on peace” and that the U.N. can’t break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.
Read more on this story in tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Comments on: U.N. recognizes state of Palestine
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atl7649 says... November 29, 2012 at 4:38 p.m.
Bad mistake but what done is done...now they have to deal with it!
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TheBatt says... November 29, 2012 at 4:41 p.m.
A sad day for Israel and for the logical world. While the Palestinians continue their campaign of terrorism with Hamas (all with the direct backing of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and even more importantly, Iran), they have "won" recognition.
I guess the USA should now apologize to Afghanistan and the Taliban for our "acts of terror" in our war against them. The Muslim world is just a poor, misunderstood bunch. We should just tolerate terrorism (or human-caused disaster as our President prefers) in the name of peace and just getting along.
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JakeTidmore says... November 29, 2012 at 5:28 p.m.
It is a state -- land and people. After being kicked out of their land years ago to make an area for Israel, it's about time this action took place.
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WTR44 says... November 29, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.
Well BILLSmith, I think you should open your and see the world like is.....and not as you would like it, or think it is!!
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tppt2_aol.com says... November 29, 2012 at 5:31 p.m.
It's time to leave this joke organization and ask them politely to get the hell out of our country. I suggest Pakistan, Kenya or Outer Mongolia as possible new sites for the UN and that they change the name to The United Third World Nations.
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RonalFos says... November 29, 2012 at 6:09 p.m.
The US is on the wrong side of this issue. The Palestinians deserve their own state and Israel is not working seriously toward this. They are stalling so they can take more land from the Palestinians. Don't forget this last dust up in the region was caused by Israel killing a Hamas leader in Gaza. Both sides need to talk not fight.
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LevyRat says... November 29, 2012 at 7:23 p.m.
Yes, bleeding hearts, this scum is now "recognized" by the UN. Where is this "state"???? Can you say terrorists!!!!!
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DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... November 29, 2012 at 7:52 p.m.
They are still Bedouins.
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Populist says... November 29, 2012 at 8:43 p.m.
People are people. The Israelis and Palestinians both have committed many wrongs toward each other. Neither group will have any peace until they accept the humanity of the other.
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T6 says... November 29, 2012 at 8:56 p.m.
It ISN'T Israel who has the OBJECTIVE of WIPING the Palestians OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!!!!!!!!
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T6 says... November 29, 2012 at 9:12 p.m.
~ youtu.be/nPRgXAYTQlU
~ youtu.be/o37GHxeRqGA
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SPA says... November 29, 2012 at 9:25 p.m.
In my experience, sometimes if you give the oppressed a chance, and stop trying to keep them down, they GROW UP. Maybe Palestine will come to its senses, and with their validation, realize how the warring mentality of Islam is killing their children too, not just those of their oppressors. We should look upon this as a coming of age for them...and a coming to reality for Israel. Israel...once the oppressed themselves...need to learn to live and let live. May they all learn to see one another differently.
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BillSmith says... November 29, 2012 at 9:32 p.m.
WTR44 and T6............. Israel is democratic and is home to several political parties which stretch across the political spectrum. However, since its establishment in 1948, Israel has followed an economic model that resembles liberal socialism.
.
Why do you want the US to support, with US tax dollars,a liberal socialist economic model In Israel, but not in the US? Just Asking?
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RonalFos says... November 29, 2012 at 10:26 p.m.
You forget Israel has killed and pushed Palestinians off their home land and left them crowed on the worst land left. You wouldn't take it sitting down either.
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cliffcarson says... November 30, 2012 at 5:47 a.m.
Those who trash the Palestinians and blame them for their plight should do some reading of the history of this conflict. And should while doing that reading notice that in 1907 the plan was made to dispose of the Palestinians, to run them out of Palestine so that the final result would be a Jewish state inhabited only by Jewish people. Make sure you read only Jewish Historians so that people can't state that you are biased by the writers of that history. I recommend you read the history by Benny Morris.
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WhoGotYurBack says... November 30, 2012 at 9:26 a.m.
Has anyone ever determined where Palestine is? And just what is a Palestinian? Here's what I know: I used to work with a guy who said he was from Palestine and wanted to know if I knew where it was. I replied, "Isn't that what we call Israel?", he said I was the only person he ever met who knew the correct answer. As far as ethnicity, you have Jordanians from Jordan, Omanians from Oman, Syrians from Syria,Saudis from Saudi Arabia, Israelis from Israel, etc. But the so called Palestinians are people from anywhere in the Arab world who want to be called Palestinian AND want to wipe out Isreal. Remember, there was an Israel long before there was a "Palestine." Any area known as Palestine was called that only after Israel was wiped out after the Crusades. Then in 1948, after World War II--and the terror of the Holocaust--the United Nations decided Jews had suffered enough at the hands of the world, so they opened up a VERY SMALL portion of old Israel as a new Israel. This is what the Arab world is crying foul over. The founder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Yassar Arafat, who claimed to be a Palestinian, was actually born in Cairo, Egypt to an Egyptian father and a "Palestinian" mother. Initially, he wanted to wipe out Israel, but in 1988 to try to establish a land for his "people" he acknowledged Israel's right "to exist in peace and security". That ticked off a lot of Muslims and led to the rise of Hamas, a terrorist organization that has sent thousands of missiles into Israel over the last few years. The latest round of fighting by Israel has been to defend itself against the bullies. Isreal is smaller than New Jersey, our 47th largest state, yet it has the entire Arab world coming down on it. BTW, several years ago, either 3 or 4 Arab countries, like Syria, Jordan and one or two others said they would give land from their countries to form a Palestinian state. That was rejected by the Palestinian leaders. Their reason? It wasn't Israel.
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DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... November 30, 2012 at 4:52 p.m.
Also Google "Kingdom of Israel"
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RonalFos says... November 30, 2012 at 5:10 p.m.
The first clear use of the term Palestine to refer to the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt was in 5th century BC Ancient Greece.[13] Herodotus wrote of a 'district of Syria, called Palaistinê" in The Histories, the first historical work clearly defining the region, which included the Judean mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley.[14][15][16][17][18][19] Approximately a century later, Aristotle used a similar definition in Meteorology, writing "Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them," understood by scholars to be a reference to the Dead Sea.[20] - Wikipedia
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cliffcarson says... December 1, 2012 at 10:48 a.m.
The plight of the Jewish people of Europe during WWII and their struggle to survive captured the World and put them into a paradox. For forty years before WWII the Zionist branch of Judaism had been waging a Gorilla war against the Palestinian population of what would later become Israel. The population of Palestine in 1907 was less than 1% Jewish and many of that one percent came there at the invite of those Arabs in the Holy Land. The Jewish people were suffering the Pogroms of the Russian Government that began around 1880. The Palestinian Arabs sent word to those victims of the Pogroms that they could come to Palestine, the land of their ancestry, and they could live in peace with the people of Palestine forever.
But this extended hand of friendship awaken a long dormant idea in the Zionist hierarchy - taking back the Holy Land and re-establishing Eratz Israel. In 1907 they established their Formal plan to occupy Palestine and that plan involved that once in control they would expel the Palestinians from their new Nation. In 1937 David Ben-Gurion who would later become known as the "Father of Israel" made a famous speech re-stating that aim. And since the early 1900's the occupation plan was put into place and up to and including WWII this Zionist organization waged a terrorist campaign against the people of Palestine which had become a British Protectorate. Later Ben-Gurion was to make another famous statement, which was the excuse to continue the terrorism against the Palestinians:
"If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: We have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it’s true, but 2,000 years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country."
The rest is history. Which don't forget is still being made. What blocks any peace from being realized in this conflict is actually a result of the past - The Israelis won't admit their deception in claiming the high road and the fact that if the Palestinians were absorbed into Israel as equal citizens, it wouldn't be long until the Israelis were in the minority and their Government would become an Islamic one and the Palestinians know that also and are long term seeking just exactly what the Israeli's fear.
The U N mandate resulting in the New Nation Israel also had a couple of other directives that go completely ignored: The Palestinian refugees right of return to their homes, and the borders of Israel.
The Plan of the invaders always was and still is to re-establish Eratz Israel to its biblical borders "from the Euphrates River in Iraq to the Mediterranean and Red Sea in the west, north to the Litaini River in Lebanon, to the empty quarter in Arabia" and to "cleanse" that territory of Non-Jewish beings.
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DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 2, 2012 at 1:05 p.m.
"The Oslo Agreement, also knows as the Oslo Accords, is an agreement signed between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on September 13, 1993, meant to effectively bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to its end by means of territorial concessions and facilitating the creation of the Palestinian Authority.
The accords, representing a milestone in Israeli-Palestinian relations, were finalized in Oslo, Norway, on August 20, 1993. The official signing ceremony was held in Washington the following September, with then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat representing both sides and US President Bill Clinton serving as their witness.
September of 1993 saw a major breakthrough in the clandestine negotiations between Israel and the PLO, as Arafat relayed a message to Rabin saying his organization was willing to acknowledge Israel's right to exist and adhere to UN resolutions 242 and 338.
Arafat's message also stated that the PLO was willing to commit to finding a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to relinquish all forms of terror and to revoke the clauses in the Palestinian National Covenant which negate Israel's right to exists. Following these decisions, Israel agreed to recognize the PLO as the Palestinian people's official representative for any peace talks.
Israel's willingness to see the PLO as a legitimate peace partner was considered a dramatic change in policy, since up until then it was considered a terror organization and any and all contact with it was prohibited by law."
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cliffcarson says... December 2, 2012 at 1:46 p.m.
What you say is true Oui, but:
Nothing came of those accords. And here in the U S our Government was quick to blame Arafat.
But Arafat stated a reason to refuse to sign up to what Israel demanded in the following talks. Do you remember what it was? I do. Would you like to find out what that reason was? Look it up and put it on here and I will either agree with you or rebut what you report. Are you up to that challenge?
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DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 2, 2012 at 3:33 p.m.
I was all over land for security. Israel needed to retain some stretches of land for security for one.
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HotSpringsLawyer says... December 2, 2012 at 4:46 p.m.
Please, not so many actual facts in the ADG.
All Bedouins??
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T6 says... December 2, 2012 at 7:55 p.m.
An enemy of Israel is an enemy of God!!!!
Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, invaded Israel and waged 4 full scale wars against her. Each time Israel defended itself and won. After each war the Israeli army withdrew from most of the areas it captured. God has many times delivered Israel's enemies into her hands. It will remain so. God will not forsake Israel. His prophecies WILL be fulfilled.
- 1948 War of Independence
- 1956 Sinai War
- 1967 Six Day War
-1973 Yom Kippur War
If the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence. If the Israelis put down their weapons today there would be no more Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu
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JIMBOB47 says... December 2, 2012 at 8:20 p.m.
So I guess all you pro-Palestinians would have us evil Europeans-Africans-Mexicans-Chinese-Japanese-Cubans- (and at least 100 others) give up the part of North America known as the United States of America? After all, didn't all these 'evil' people take it from the native Americans? hmmmmm..
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