State Of Palestine Is Now Recognized By The U.N.

UN General Assembly Approves Palestinian Status Upgrade -- Voice of America

The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to recognize a Palestinian state with non-member observer status.

There was jubilation on the floor of the assembly after the resolution was approved Thursday by a vote of 138 to 9, with 41 nations abstaining. Palestinians in Ramallah, on the West Bank, erupted in wild cheers, hugging each other and honking horns after the vote.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the vote underscores the urgency for a resumption of meaningful negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He urged both sides to renew their commitment to a negotiated peace.

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More News On The UN Voting To Recognize State Of Palestine

Palestinians win upgraded UN status by wide margin -- BBC
UN vote recognizes state of Palestine; US objects -- AP
Palestinians win implicit U.N. recognition of sovereign state -- Reuters
Palestinians Upgraded to ‘Observer State’ at UN -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Palestinians win UN recognition -- The Australian/AFP
U.N. approves Palestinian 'observer state' bid -- CNN
United Nations upgrades Palestine’s status -- Washington Post
Nine nations vote against Palestinian statehood upgrade at UN, including Israel, US and Canada -- Washington Post/AP
Palestinians celebrate UN statehood vote -- AP
UN Palestinian statehood vote a personal, political victory for Abbas -- NBC
UN vote boosts Palestinian statehood aspirations, could lead to new pressure on US and Israel -- FOX News/AP
What's all the fuss about a Palestinian U.N. upgrade? -- Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

Palestinians Formally Make A Bid At The UN For Statehood

Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 66th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, September 23, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Palestinians Formally Request U.N. Membership -- New York Times

UNITED NATIONS — Resisting American pressure, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority formally requested full United Nations membership on Friday as a path toward statehood, rejecting arguments by the United States and Israel that it was not a substitute for direct negotiations for peace in the Middle East.

Mr. Abbas handed a letter requesting the membership to Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, before delivering his speech at the annual General Assembly. Mr. Ban was submitting the request to the Security Council.

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More News On The Palestinians Requesting UN Membership

Palestinian UN statehood bid: live -- The Telegraph
Palestinian UN bid for statehood: live coverage -- The Guardian
Palestinian bid for statehood: Live Report -- Yahoo News/AFP
Palestinians seek full UN membership -- AP
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas makes UN statehood bid -- BBC
Palestinians make formal statehood bid at U.N. -- CBS/AP
Palestinians Submit U.N. Statehood Bid -- Wall Street Journal
Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas Asks United Nations to Recognize State -- FOX News/AP
Palestinian leader asks U.N. to recognize state -- USA Today
Many facets to Abbas' U.N. move, analysts say -- CNN
Scenarios: Miracle, muddle or mess possible for Mideast -- Yahoo News/Reuters

Palestinians Call Elections

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) attends a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah January 26, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

Amid Egypt Aftershocks, Palestinians Call Elections -- Time Magazine

Satellite television reception being crisp and clear in Ramallah, the leadership of the Palestinian National Authority watched events in Egypt on Friday, then chose Saturday to announce that they would hold new elections, after all.

Balloting for Palestinian president and the legislature was originally scheduled for 2010, but was called off because the government is divided into warring factions. According to the results of the last round of elections, the militant Islamist Hamas is the ruling party in the legislature, while Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas is the president. New elections are long overdue, but the reality on the ground is that Fatah rules the 2.4 million Palestinians who live on the West Bank, while Hamas governs the Gaza Strip, home to another 1.5 million citizens. And in response to the latest announcement, Hamas made clear that Gaza would not be participating in the proposed poll.

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More News On Palestinian Elections

Elections envisioned in Palestinian territories this year -- CNN
Palestinian Leaders Suddenly Call for Elections -- New York Times
Palestinian Authority calls elections before Sept. -- Xinhuanet
Palestinians Announce Plans for Presidential Elections -- Voice of America
Palestinians to hold elections by September -- Forbes/AP

Palestinian election plan runs into Hamas obstacle -- AFP
Hamas rejects Palestinian Authority call for election -- Baltimore Sun
Hamas fears Palestinian elections could expose its waning popularity -- Haaretz
Hamas rejects Palestinian Authority call for election -- Reuters

Internal Palestinian Disagreements And Hostilities Are Increasing With Time

Several protests condemning Abbas over the UNHRC Goldstone
vote have taken place in Gaza [AFP]

Hamas Sets New Unity Talks Terms -- Al Jazeera

A Hamas delegation is meeting Egyptian officials in Cairo to try to set a new date for the signing of a Palestinian unity deal, a spokesman for the Palestinian group has said.

Sami Abu-Zuhri told the AFP news agency that the team led by Moussa Abu Marzuk, an exiled senior Hamas official, is to hold talks with Omar Suleiman, Egypt's intelligence chief, on "a new, appropriate date for the new session of inter-Palestinian dialogue".

Abu-Zuhri said "the atmosphere is not right for the signing of an accord".

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More News On The Palestinians

Hamas says Egypt to delay Palestinian dialogue upon request -- China View
Hamas wants to delay Fatah talks -- YNET News
Palestinian gunmen clash in Gaza -- YNET News
Gaza militants say Hamas stops their rocket fire -- Reuters
Palestinians despair over resuming talks before settlement freeze -- China View
Furor Sends Palestinians Into Shift on U.N. Report -- New York Times
Fatah seeks joint action with Hamas over Gaza report -- AFP
Going under in the Gaza Strip -- BBC
Hamas bails out Gaza's losing tunnel investors -- Reuters
Palestinians barred from Old City -- Al Jazeera
Security and Defense: Temple Mt. - a tinderbox of mixed interests -- Jerusalem Post

2008 'Deadliest' Year For Palestinians: Rights Group

Photo: Palestinians attend the funeral of 15 people killed during Israeli air strikes in December 2008

From AFP:

GAZA CITY (AFP) — More than 1,000 Palestinians were killed in 2008 in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, making it the deadliest year since Israel was founded in 1948, a Palestinian rights group said on Saturday.

A total of 820 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, while 40 were killed in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, an independent organisation based in Gaza.

At least half of them were civilians, including 108 children, the centre's director Raji Sourani said as he presented the rights watchdog's annual report to the media.

In addition, 143 Palestinians, among them 25 children and 13 women, were killed in inter-Palestinian violence last year, Sourani said.

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My Comment: As long as Hamas continues their policy of war against Israel (and fighting against other Palestinians), there is a very good chance that these stats will be repeated this year.