In spite of opposition by the United States and Israel, and with the support of the EU, Russia, China and Canada, the status of the PLO Observer was upgraded by 124 in favor, 4 against (Israel, the U.S., Micronesia and Marshall Islands) with 10 abstentions (47 Member States were absent). The Europeans argued that this was a technical resolution and did not establish a legal precedent. The U.S. felt the resolution was unnecessary and could encourage the PA to declare statehood on 4 May 1999, a measure threatened by Arafat on a number of occasions. As expected, Israel totally rejected the resolution, which added more privileges to the PLO Observer. It also rejected the application of the term 'Palestine' instead of the PLO. Israel said the resolution contradicted the principles of the peace process. Text of the resolution and the Foreign Ministry reaction follow:
Participation of Palestine in the work of the United Nations
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 181 (II), of 29 November 1947, in which it, inter alia, recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State, with Jerusalem as a corpus separatum,
Recalling its resolution 3237 (XXIX), of 22 November 1974, in which it granted observer status to the Palestine Liberation Organization,
Recalling its resolution 43/160 A, of 9 December 1988, adopted under the item entitled: "Observer status of national liberation movements recognized by the Organization of African Unity and/or the League of Arab States", in which it decided that the Palestine Liberation Organization was entitled to have its communications issued and circulated as official documents of the United Nations,
Recalling its resolution 43/177, of 15 December 1988, in which it acknowledged the proclamation of the State of Palestine by the Palestine National Council on 15 November 1988 and decided, inter alia, that the designation "Palestine" should be used in place of the designation "Palestine Liberation Organization" in the United Nations system,
Recalling its resolutions 49/12 of 9 November 1994 and 49/12B of 30 May 1995, through which, inter alia, arrangements for the Special Commemorative Meeting of the General Assembly on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary at the United Nations, in addition to applying to all Member and Observer States, were also applied to Palestine, in its capacity as observer, including in the organizing process of the list of speakers for the Commemorative Meeting,
Recalling further that Palestine enjoys full membership in the Group of Asian States and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia,
Aware that Palestine is a full member in the League of Arab States, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Group of 77 and China,
Aware also that general democratic Palestinian elections were held on 20 January 1996 and that the Palestinian Authority was established on part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
Desirous of contributing to the achievement of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, thus achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East,
1. Decides to confer upon Palestine, in its capacity as observer, and as contained in the annex to the present resolution, additional rights and privileges of participation in the sessions and work of the General Assembly and the international conferences convened under the auspices of the Assembly or other organs of the United Nations as well as in United Nations conferences;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to inform the Assembly, within the current session, on the implementation of the modalities annexed to the present resolution.
Annex
The additional rights and privileges of participation of Palestine shall be effected through the following modalities, without prejudice to the existing rights and privileges:
1. The right to participation in the general debate of the General Assembly.
2. Without prejudice to the priority of Member States, Palestine shall have the right of inscription on the list of speakers under agenda items other than Palestinian and Middle East issues at any meeting of the plenary after the last Member State inscribed on the list of that meeting.
3. The right of reply.
4. The right to raise points of order related to the proceedings on Palestinian and Middle East issues, provided that the right to raise such a point of order shall not include the right to challenge the decision of the presiding officer.
5. The right to co-sponsor draft resolutions and decisions on Palestinian and Middle East issues. Such draft resolutions and decisions shall only be put to a vote upon request from a Member State.
6. The right to make interventions, with a precursory explanation or the recall of relevant General Assembly resolutions being made only once by the President of the General Assembly at the start of each session of the Assembly.
7. Seating for Palestine shall be arranged immediately after non-Member States and before the other observers; and with the allocation of six seats in the General Assembly Hall.
8. Palestine shall not have the right to vote or to put forward candidates.
Israel's response:
Israel totally rejects the decision by the United Nations General Assembly today (Tuesday) 7.7.98, granting the Palestine Liberation Organization additional privileges as an observer at the United Nations.
This decision creates a negative precedent and contradicts the principles of the peace process and the spirit of the Oslo Accords. Once again, the PLO is exploiting the United Nations on matters whose place is in bilateral negotiations. Israel calls on the PLO not to take unilateral actions in the international arena which would harm the peace process, and calls on the international community not to abet such actions.
At the same time, the General Assembly's decision and its appendix do not change the status of the PLO as merely an observer organization within the UN apparatus.