The margin of Israel's defeat in a U.N. vote that granted de-facto statehood to Palestine has disappointed Israeli political leaders, whose attempts on Friday to play down the result could not disguise its significance. The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to upgrade the Palestinians' status in the world body, making them a "non-member state". The decision was backed by 138 nations, opposed by nine, while 41 members abstained. On the ground nothing has changed. Israeli army checkpoints remain in place across the West Bank, Jewish settlers continue their daily lives, and the Israeli government warns that lasting peace is more remote than ever. An Israeli official said on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative government had authorised thousands of new settlement homes on occupied land where the Palestinians, with wide foreign support, envisage their future state. But the fact only three major countries sided with Israel at the world forum on Thursday - the United States, Canada and the Czech Republic - underscored how isolated it has become on the international stage regarding peacemaking with the Palestinians. "Even old friends like Germany refused to stand alongside us. There were external factors, but it is hard not to see this as a total failure for our diplomacy which will obviously have consequences," said a senior official who declined to be named. Government spokesman Mark Regev said that although Israel was "disappointed" by the vote, it was not surprised. "The General Assembly can resemble the theatre of the absurd, which once a year automatically approves ludicrous, anti-Israeli resolutions. Sometimes these are supported by Europe, sometimes they are not," he said. Nonetheless, analysts said the vote exposed the gulf that has opened between Europe and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the Western-backed administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and the depth of EU opposition to Jewish settlement expansion.
