Article 2

Palestinians win approval to fly flag at UN 

Ireland votes in favour of resolution granting observer states 

the right to fly their flags 

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approves a resolution, intended 

for Palestine, that allows non-member observer states to fly their flags at the United 

Nations headquarters in New York. Video: Reuters 

Palestinians overwhelmingly won the right to fly their national flag in front of the United 


The change was made by the UN General Assemblyt41, when a vast majority of member 

countries voted in favour of a resolution granting what are known as non-member 

observer states the right to fly their flags alongside member states. 

Palestine became an observer state in 2012. The Vatican(51, the only other observer state, 

has held that status since 1964. 

Palestinian diplomats secured the support of a majority of the assembly, as was expected, 

with 119 countries voting in favour Of the resolution, eight voting against it and 45 

abstaining. 

The flag is expected to be hoisted for the first time when the Palestinian Authority's 

president, Mahmoud AbbasL61 delivers his remarks to the annual meeting of heads of 

state and government at the General Assembly on Sept 30th. 

The resolution is part Of the effort by Mr Abbas and his associates to gain international 

recognition for a Palestinian state on lands seized or controlled by Israel since the 1967 

war. Israel and the United States have argued that such measures are meaningless 

without a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

"Today's vote is a reaffirmation of the legitimacy of the national aspirations of the 

Palestinian people, Of their existence among the nations Of the world and their right to 


Voting in favour Of the resolution were the countries Of the Arab world, Iran and nearly 

every African and Asian country. It was co-sponsored by more than 50 countries. Israel 

the United States, Canada and Australia were among those that voted against it. 

The 28-member countries of the European Union did not manage to take a united 

position as they had hoped. 

Ireland voted in favour of the resolution alongside fellow-EU members France 

Sweden, Italy1151, Spain, 

Luxembourg1181, Belgium1191 and Malta 

Slovenia and Austria, abstained. Others, including Britain, Germany 

The US ambassador, Samantha Power 

in explaining her no vote, said that raising the 

flag "is not an alternative to negotiations and will not bring the parties closer 

to peace." 

The Israeli ambassador, Ron Prosor, described the resolution as a cynical action. 

"Make no mistake, the goal of this resolution is a photo op," Mr Prosor said. 

"The Palestinians want to bring together world dignitaries and the media to gather 

around and watch as Mahmoud Abbas raises a flag. They plan to use the prestige of the 

UN as a backdrop for this charade." 

How much the resolution buoys Mr Abbas' standing among his domestic constituency 

remains to be seen. On Thursday, Ghassan Khatib vice-president of the Palestinian 

Birzeit UniversityP61, called it "a good symbolic move" that he hoped would bring more 

tangible benefits. 

"People need to see real achievements that have a practical impact on people's lives," he 

said. 

Citation: "The
Irish Times". September 11, 2015. NYT,
Reuters. September 11, 2015. <http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/palestinians-win-approval-

to-fly-flag-at-un-1.2348456>

Response: In viewing this article, we see that there seems to be some conflict resulting from the 

decisions made at the UN. The main countries to oppose are all first world and more developed

 nations, while the countries that voted for the Palestinian flag to be flown at the UN 

headquarters, appeared to be third world and less developed nations for the most part. To me,

 this seems to maybe be a lack of knowledge or experience with Palestine on the part of the 

countries that voted in favor of the proposal. Another thing that stood out to me in the article 

was the way that the author portrayed the different countries. He seemed to present bias 

toward the countries that voted for this decision, especially Ireland which makes a lot of sense,

seeing as the newspaper is Irish. I think that this decision may bring more peace in terms of the 

UN and Palestine , though, I do think that the other countries, such as the US, Canada, Australia,

 and Israel, that voted against it, may experience heightened tension now that this request has 

been granted.