<div class="gmail_quote"><div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt">
<div dir="ltr"><font size="6">Recently in Palestine...</font><br><br><br><br>On November 29th, after Israel's assault on Gaza and their attacks post-ceasfire on Gazan civilians, the United Nations officially recognized the Palestinian territories as a "non member state." An attempt to achieve non member state status was put forward in the U.N. last year but was unsuccessful in garnering support. After a year of continued settlement expansions and aggression, Palestine was finally recognized as a non member state by a vast majority in the United nations. Nearly 140 countries voted for the resolution while 31 countries abstained from voting and only 9 countries representing 5% of the world population voted against the resolution. <br>

This victory is a form of recognition of statehood by the U.N, something Palestine has not had since the creation of Israel in 1948. This also gives Palestinians the ability to try Israel for their war crimes. <br>The move, however, was not accepted warmly in the U.S. or in Israel. Israel has already begun following up on several of the threats they made towards the Palestinian Authority if the movement passed. Israel has already announced that they plan to withhold 120 million dollars of taxes and customs collected from Palestinian laborers and businesses. Israel also announced that in retaliation to the U.N. resolution it would begin planning and constructing 3000 illegal settlement homes. Several U.S. legislators have also presented bills that suggest the U.S. follow suit and throttle back it's already scarce financial aide to Palestine. <br>

While this U.N. recognition is a great step forward for the Palestinian movement, it is important to note that the battle for justice in Palestine is not even close to over. Palestinians now have a greater voice in the international community, but it is important that citizens of other countries continue to push their politicians to vote for legislation that promotes equality and justice in Palestine, while taking actions similar to the strikes that have already sprung up in cities like Montreal. <br>

<br><font size="1">Sources:<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/28/world/meast/un-palestinian-bid/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CNN</a><br><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323751104578149193307234514.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal</a><br>

<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/20121130145940757197.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Aljazeera</a><br><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/12/2012122192953375233.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Aljazeera</a><br>
<a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/israel-to-withold-tax-transfer-to-palestinians-over-un-bid/1556911.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">VOA</a><br>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/02/israel-palestinian-funds-statehood-bid_n_2226993.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a><br><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/following-un-vote-on-palestine-israel-may-now-find-itself-at-the-hague.premium-1.481919" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Huffngton Post</a><br>

<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4314488,00.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">YNet News</a><br><a href="http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=185175" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pakistan Observer</a><br>
<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/12/02/montreal-palestine-phillips.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CBC News</a><br>
<a href="http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1263438/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Business Recorder</a><br><a href="http://rt.com/news/israel-withholds-tax-funds-084/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RT News</a><br>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/02/israel-to-withhold-tax-transfer-to-palestinians-as-punishment-over-un-statehood/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fox News</a><br>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1296230--canada-s-un-vote-against-palestinian-statehood-only-empowers-extremists" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Star</a><br><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/germany-wont-back-palestinian-state-un-132509469.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a><br>

</font><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
</div><br><br> </div> </div>  </div></div></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div><font color="#000000" face="times new roman,serif"><b>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</b></font></div>

<div><font face="times new roman,serif"><i><b><font color="#ff0000">Students</font> for Justice in <font color="#009900">Palestine</font> </b></i></font></div>
<div><font face="times new roman,serif"><i><b>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign</b></i></font></div><br>