Palestinians celebrated the UN General Assembly's decision on Thursday in Yasser Arafat square in the West Bank city of Ramallah to upgrade them to a non-member observer state, embracing and shooting guns and fireworks into the air.
When the tally was announced and the bid for the status upgrade was approved by 138-9, along with 41 abstenations people cheered and shouted "God is greatest". In the northern West Bank city of Nablus, moreover, several thousand people took part in the day-time festivities.
However, the international reactions to such unprecedented action had apparently varied from on state to another.
The Egyptian Foreign Minsiter Mohamed Kamel Amr congratulated his Palestinian counterpart Riad Al-Maliki for such step and emphasized Cairo's willingness to resume its historical role in providing the "required support" for the Palestinian people until they reach their dream of creating a state based on pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.
Amr, also, added that the pro-Palestinian vote indicates the "growing awareness" of the international community towards pushing the regional peace process forward, recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, and ending the Israeli occupation.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon had earlier warned Abbas that the Middle East peace process is on "life support" and that both Netanyahu and Abbas must take action to revive talks.
In Gaza City, around a thousand people marched towards the UN headquarters in support of the bid, waving flags of various Palestinian factions, including Fatah.
Gaza's ruling Hamas movement, a bitter rival of Fatah, has in recent days expressed tepid support for the UN bid after its leadership announced its backing.
But while the government allowed the rally to go ahead, there were no green Hamas flags to be seen among those participating, an AFP reporter said.
Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas' Political Bureau, argued that the UN recognition to Palestine should catalyze the reconciliation process, especially in light of the late Israeli aggression on Gaza that ended up with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire and the death of 162 Palestinians and 5 Israelis.
"I told the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that this step should be part of strategy of national resistance to the occupation and the strength and ability of the Palestinians to face it", Meshaal said.
The Hamas leader -in-exile surprisingly said that he will pay a historical visit to Gaza next week to celebrate the 25th anniversary since the establishment of the Islamist movement.
"History proved that Israel retreats only under pressure, and I am not afraid if its government decided to kill me", Meshaal stated.
Abbas claimed what he called a UN "birth certificate" for a Palestinian state Abbas, hoping to use the status upgrade as a launchpad for renewed direct talks with Israel -- frozen for more than two years -- calling the resolution "the last chance to save the two-state solution."
In a 22-minute speech laced with references to Israel's battle with Gaza's Hamas rulers this month, Abbas said time for an accord is running out. "The rope of patience is shortening and hope is withering." Afterwards, he said the vote had been "historic."
"Tomorrow we begin the real war," Abbas said at a celebration reception. "We will act responsibly and positively in our next steps, and we will work to strengthen cooperation with the countries and peoples of the world for the sake of a just peace."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned what he called a "venomous" speech by the Palestinian leader, while his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Abbas is a "man who does not want peace".
Netanyahu slammed Abbas's address. "The world watched a defamatory and venomous speech that was full of mendacious propaganda," his office said.Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said recognizing Palestine "will place further obstacles and preconditions to negotiations and peace," and could even lead to further violence.
But he also warned that in going to the UN, the Palestinians had "violated" previous agreements with Israel, such as the 1993 Oslo Accords, and that his country would "act accordingly".
Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who returned to politics earlier this week at the head of a new centrist faction called HaTnuah, described the UN move as "a strategic terror attack" by the Palestinians which she blamed on Netanyahu.
"The government could have stopped the Palestinian initiative at the UN if it had conducted (peace) negotiations," she charged
"Instead of recruiting the world to Israel's side, the world is now standing on the Palestinians' side. That is a results of the mistaken policy, four years of political stalemate, speeches and accusations by the Netanyahu government."
US ambassador Susan Rice condemned the vote as "an obstacle to peace" because it would not lead to a return to direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
"Today's grand pronouncements will soon fade and the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little has changed," she told the assembly, in a grimly delivered statement. "This resolution does not establish that Palestine is a state."
The United States blocked a Palestinian application for full membership of the United Nations that Abbas made in September 2011.The Palestinian Authority and UN agencies that accept Palestinian participation could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in financing because of the vote.
US law prohibits funding for any international body recognizing a Palestinian state.Washington has warned Abbas he risks losing around $200 million in aid, which is blocked in the US Congress.
Israel is considering freezing the transfer of tax and customs funds it collects for the Palestinians, which Abbas said he expects while one Israeli foreign ministry policy paper even suggested "toppling" the Palestinian Authority. Russia and China, the two main rivals of Washington on international hegemony, praised the UN recognition of Palestine.
Short link: