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- The declaration, which calls for a two-state solution and a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, won the UNGA's overwhelming support on Friday
- Co-sponsored by and France, the resolution passed with 142 countries voting in favor, 10 against and 12 abstaining
JEDDAH: With the historic adoption by the UN General Assembly of the New York Declaration on the Palestinian issue, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said it is now incumbent on all states to move to carry out the measures contained in the document.
The declaration, which calls for a two-state solution and a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, won the UNGA’s overwhelming support on Friday.
Co-sponsored by and France, the resolution passed with 142 countries voting in favor, 10 against and 12 abstaining.
“The widespread endorsement constitutes an international consensus and commitment to work towards the establishment of a Palestinian state, ending the Israeli occupation, and achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region,” the OIC said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency on Saturday.
The statement called on all states to assume their responsibilities and immediately move to implement the measures contained in the declaration, including full recognition of the State of Palestine and support for its full membership in the United Nations.
Smoke and flames rise from an Israeli military strike on a building in Gaza City on Sept. 12, 2025, as the UN General Assembly voted on the New York Declaration. (AP Photo)
The statement also urged countries to put “pressure on Israel, the occupying force, to halt its crimes of occupation, aggression, settlement, displacement, destruction, and starvation against the Palestinian people.”
For its part, the 57-nation Muslim organization affirmed its commitment to working and cooperating with all international parties to ensure the implementation of the declaration, particularly on the establishment of an independent state on the June 4, 1967, borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The OIC commended the pioneering role played by and France in co-chairing the conference and their joint efforts in mobilizing support for the adoption and drafting of the final document.
UN members that voted ’no’
Of the UNGA’s 193 member states, the ten countries that voted against it were Israel, the United States, Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.
Those that abstained were Albania, Czech Republic, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guatemala, Moldova, North Macedonia, Samoa, and South Sudan.
The vote comes ahead of a meeting of world leaders on September 22 — on the sidelines of the high-level UN General Assembly — where Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are expected to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
In opposing the resolution, Israel and the US reasoned that it would only further embolden the Palestinian Hamas militant movement.
“Make no mistake, this resolution is a gift to Hamas,” US diplomat Morgan Ortagus told the General Assembly. “Far from promoting peace, the conference has already prolonged the war, emboldened Hamas and harmed the prospects of peace in both short and long term.”
Israel, which has long criticized the UN for not condemning Hamas by name for the October 7 attacks, dismissed the declaration as one-sided and described the vote as theater.
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, addresses delegates at the UN General Assembly before a vote on the Saudi-French sponsored resolution on September 12, 2025. (REUTERS)
“The only beneficiary is Hamas …When terrorists are the ones cheering, you are not advancing peace; you are advancing terror,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said.
The surprise Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 — which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and netter 251 hostages — sparked the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza. Aside from destroying almost every structure in the Palestinian enclave, Israel’s offensive has killed more than 64,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Proponents of the resolution, however, argue that the declaration condemns the attacks against Israel by Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
It also condemns the attacks by Israel against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, siege and starvation, “which have resulted in a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis.”
French Ambassador to the UN Jerome Bonnafont speaks during a General Assembly meeting to vote on two states solution to the Palestinian question on September 12, 2025 in New York City. (AFP)
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the resolution secured the international isolation of Hamas.
“For the first time today, the United Nations adopted a text condemning it for its crimes and calling for its surrender and disarmament,” he said in an X post.
(With Agencies)