Palestine UN Vote Expected Thursday; Hamas Endorses Plan

Vote Expects to Win Overwhelming Support from General Assembly

The long-discussed UN draft resolution on upgrading Palestine’s status to “non-member observer state” is expected to come to a vote on Thursday, and is receiving a last-minute shot in the arm with an endorsement from Hamas.

Hamas had previously expressed ambivalence about the move, but in the wake of last week’s Gaza War is moving toward reconciliation with Fatah, and today’s endorsement underscores how much those unity talks have already progressed.

Israel and the United States have repeatedly pressed Fatah to scrap the plan, with the US insisting it would hurt peace negotiations (that have been stalled for over a year at any rate) and Israel threatening unspecified retaliation.

But the vote itself, assuming it comes, isn’t expected to be close. With 193 member states voting in the general assembly, the overwhelming majority are likely to back Palestinian statehood, with only a handful of nations liable to vote against it.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.