West Bank residents rally ahead of UN vote on Palestinian status

Today at the United Nations, member states are voting on whether to grant Palestine non-member state status at the General Assembly. As FSRN goes to broadcast, world leaders were still gathering for the late afternoon vote. The US is expected to join Israel in voting no on the measure. The vote comes on the 65th anniversary of the UN vote to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Speaking through an interpreter at the UN in New York, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestine comes to the General Assembly today because it believes in peace and its people are in desperate need of it. In opposing the move, the Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor said the measure would undermine peace negotiations. The impact of the change in status from “entity” to “non-member state” is not immediately clear, but it could strengthen Palestinian efforts to join other UN and international agencies, such as the International Criminal Court. The vote, which failed last year in the UN Security Council, gained momentum when France pledged to support the move this week. That followed indications from Hamas that it, too, would support the effort. In the West Bank Palestinians rallied in support of President Abbas’ move. FSRN’s Ghassan Bannoura attended one of those rallies in Bethlehem city, southern West Bank.