Above: the UN General Assembly’s vote on Thursday (UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The United Nations General Assembly voted 138-9 to accord Palestine with non-Member Observer State status, with much of the Caribbean voting in favour.

There were 41 abstentions to the resolution.

The vote upgrades Palestine’s status at the UN to the rights, privileges and role of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in the UN as the representative of the Palestinian people.

The PLO had been recognized as an observer entity in 1974.

A total of 11 Caribbean nations voted in favour of the move, with one country, Panama, voting against, and three countries, the Bahamas, Barbados and Haiti, abstaining.

Those voting in favour included Antigua, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.