The United States was one of eight nations voting against a resolution calling for the raising of the Palestinian flag outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, The Times of Israel reported Thursday.

A resolution was adopted by member states with 119 in favor, eight voting against — including Israel and the United States — and 45 abstentions.

The text allows the Palestinian flag and that of the Holy See — both of which have non-member observer status — to be hoisted alongside those of the member states.

“Raising the Palestinian flag outside the UN headquarters is not an alternative to negotiations [between Palestinians and Israel], and will not bring the parties closer to peace,” US ambassador Samantha Power said after the vote.

Israeli Ambassador to  the United Nations Ron Prosor said that “no vote can turn an empty symbolic gesture into a state.”

The United States and Israel were joined in opposing the resolution by Australia, Canada, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Tuvalu.

Adopting language reminiscent of his predecessor Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the decision saying, “The struggle will continue until the Palestinian flag flies over our eternal capital, occupied Jerusalem.”

In recent weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians, but has been rebuffed. Abbas scuttled an American-sponsored peace initiative last year when he refused to accept an American peace framework and subsequently entered into a power-sharing agreement with the terrorist organization Hamas.

[Photo: WorldIslandInfo.com / Flickr ]