"On the Wrong Side of History"

On Thursday 29th November the UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognise Palestine as a state. Readers will remember that the previous recognition of Palestine by UNESCO prompted the US - who all along opposed it - to stop funding the organization. This new vote illustrates the isolation of the US. While 138 nations voted to give the Palestinian people justice, "just nine countries ended up on the wrong side of history: Israel, the US, Canada, the Czech Republic, Panama, Palau, Nauru, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands".

A few weeks ago, the vote was expected to be much closer, with Israel and the US lobbying hard to deny Palestine key European support. But in the face of major public pressure [...], countries such as France, Spain, Belgium and Sweden decided to vote yes to statehood for Palestine. 

Sadly Poland, who herself only relatively recently recovered statehood after 123 years dominance and repression under rule of neighbouring countries, abstained from the vote, as did most of eastern Europe. 

[Note, with regard to a certain case going through the US courts, which central Asian state was the only one to side witrh the US and Israel on this by abstaining - coincidence?]

Source (including the illustrating map):
Avaaz Team, 'See who voted for Palestine', 29 November 2012.

The Associated Press covers the results of the voting, the Guardian covers the activities of Avaaz two weeks ago and Haaretz describes Israel's response.