Canada abstains from UN assembly vote backing Palestinian bid for membership

The UN General Assembly has voted by a wide margin to grant new «rights and privileges» to Palestinian representatives and called on the Security Council to favourably reconsider their request to have a Palestinian state become the 194th member of the United Nations.

Canada abstained from the vote. In a statement, Global Affairs Canada said it did so in favour of a two-state solution — a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza alongside Israel.

«It is clear we must urgently build a credible path to achieving the two-state solution, one that gives hope to both Palestinians and Israelis that they may live side by side in peace, security and dignity,» the statement said. «That process cannot indefinitely delay the creation of a Palestinian state.

»Canada is prepared to recognize the state of Palestine at the time most conducive to lasting peace, not necessarily as the last step along that path."

The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full UN membership for the Palestinian state, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and that Israel has worked to prevent.

The renewed push for full Palestinian membership in the UN comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict centre stage. At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,900 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many member states.

The original draft of the assembly resolution was changed significantly to address concerns not only by the U.S. but also by Russia and China, according to three Western diplomats, speaking on