Overview:
Palau joins U.S., Israel, and a handful of nations in rejecting UN resolution on Palestinian statehood.
By: Bernadette Carreon
Five Pacific Island nations, including Palau, were among the ten countries that voted against a United Nations resolution endorsing Palestinian statehood on Friday, September 12, 2025.
The Pacific nations that voted “no” were Tonga, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea. They joined the United States, Israel, Argentina, Hungary, and Paraguay in opposing the resolution.
The UN General Assembly passed the resolution with 142 countries voting in favor and 12 abstaining. The resolution endorses the “New York Declaration,” which outlines a plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The resolution, sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, condemns Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages. It calls for “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” toward establishing a Palestinian state.
The declaration followed a July conference on a two-state solution that both the United States and Israel boycotted.
This is not the first time Pacific Island nations have opposed Palestinian-related resolutions. In September 2024, six Pacific Island Forum members voted against a Palestinian resolution demanding Israel end its occupation within 12 months.
They are Palau, Tonga, Micronesia, Nauru, and PNG.
Twelve countries chose to abstain, including two Pacific nations: Fiji and Samoa. Other abstaining countries were Albania, Cameroon, Czechia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, South Sudan, North Macedonia, and Moldova.
Voting in favor are Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, and Marshall Islands.
Other Pacific countries didn’t register a vote in UN General Assembly proceedings, such as Vanuatu, Kiribati, and Tuvalu.
The resolution represents one of the strongest international shows of support for Palestinian statehood in recent years, with 142 out of 193 UN member states voting in favor.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in August, when endorsing the New York Declaration, stated, ”a two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza.”