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US unhappy over UN's support for State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas (centre), President of the Palestinian Authority, with his delegation in the General Assembly | Image courtesy: Rick Bajornas

The General Assembly of the United Nations allowed Palestine to function more fully as a full member of the International Organization during the 2019 meetings, where it will chair the Group of 77 for developing countries.

In a UN vote on Tuesday, the resolution was backed by 146 nations and opposed by the United States, Israel, and Australia, while 15 abstained.

The resolution drafted by Egypt allows Palestine to operate procedurally as a Member State when speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China in terms of statements, submission, participation in the submission of proposals, amendments and right of reply.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour pledged "to spare no effort" to defend the interests of the Group of 77 and to work "constructively with all partners".

The draft resolution contains a series of measures "for the participation of the State of Palestine" at various annual sessions and conferences in which the Group of 77 will participate next year.

Washington, on the other hand, strongly opposed the resolution. "The United States has always opposed strengthening the status of the Palestinians with the United Nations," said UN Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Cohen.

Only members who have full recognition can speak and act on behalf of a group of States at the United Nations, Cohen said. He warned that his country would not recognize the new role of Palestine.

No authority for Washington

But the United States does not have veto power in the UN General Assembly to prevent the adoption of the resolution and has only the right to speak and vote along the lines of the other 192 member states.

Of the 193 countries, 128 voted at the end of 2017 at the UN General Assembly in favor of a text condemning the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In his address to the General Assembly at the end of September, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that 183 "states" of the United Nations "recognized" the state of Palestine. He called on "all countries of the world" that have not done so to take this step.

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved in 2012 the effective recognition of the sovereign Palestinian state when it upgraded the status of the Palestinian Authority from an observer entity to a non-member state such as the Vatican.

This procedure allowed Palestine to participate in some voting in the General Assembly and to join some international bodies.

Source: Agencies