The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to make Palestine a non-member state, in a major diplomatic defeat for the United States and Israel.
The vote which was backed by 138 countries out of 193 – including Ireland – triggered jubilant celebrations in Ramallah.
President Mahmood Abbas called it a ‘Birth Certificate’ for the Palestinian state.
While it does not allow the country to vote at the General Assembly – Palestine will be able to join UN agencies and potentially the International Criminal Court, where it could ask for an investigation of Israeli actions.
However US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton doesn’t believe it’ll do anything to advance peace:
