UNGA votes overwhelmingly in favour of raising Palestinian flag at UN headquarters

Israel and the US voted against but the likes of Pakistan, France, Sweden, Italy and Spain voted in favour

NEW YORK: The UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to allow the Palestinians to raise their flag at its headquarters in a diplomatic victory in their campaign for statehood.

A resolution was adopted by member states with 119 in favor, eight voting against -- and 45 abstentions from the 193 UN members.

Those who voted against the motion were Israel and the United States, who were joined by the likes of Australia, Canada , Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau.

Prominent among those who abstained in the vote included major powers such as United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Singapore.

News: #UNGA votes to raise the flags of non-member observer States at UN: http://t.co/p7rogLFOu1 via @UN_PGA pic.twitter.com/biFcO9H99d

— United Nations (@UN) September 10, 2015

Surprisingly, France voted in favour of the motion along with Pakistan, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Belgium and Malta. France has been spearheading a push to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which collapsed in 2014.

"We need to mobilise a new dynamic to preserve the two-state solution," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in Paris.

"We have to reduce tension on the ground and restart a credible dialogue," he added. "Without a resolution of this conflict it will be difficult to find solutions elsewhere in the region."

The Palestinian-drafted resolution, which says the flags of non-member observer states like Palestine "shall be raised at (UN) Headquarters and United Nations Offices following the flags of the member states."

"It's a step to the recognition of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations," Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah told reporters in Paris earlier on Thursday.

The only other non-member observer state is the Vatican, which reacted coolly when the Palestinians first circulated their draft resolution last month.

The Palestinians had initially presented their initiative as a joint effort with the Holy See, but the Vatican said it would not co-sponsor the resolution and requested that its name be removed from the text.

The Vatican said on Wednesday it had not decided whether to fly its flag next to the Palestinians', should the resolution pass. The resolution says observer states' flags will be flown within 20 days.

Palestinian diplomats say they expect their flag to be raised on September 30, the day Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses world leaders at the annual gathering of the UN General Assembly.

Israel had urged member states to oppose the Palestinian draft resolution, calling it "another cynical misuse of the UN by the Palestinian Authority."

Washington said the initiative was "counterproductive."

In 2012, the General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine. That followed a failed bid by the Palestinians to secure full UN membership.