Celebrations erupt in Palestinian territories after UN voting

Palestinians took to the streets late Thursday in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in celebration of a UN vote that granted Palestine the status of a non-member observer state. After the vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions, people in the West Bank gathered in courtyards and set off fireworks and gunfire intensively in the air. People in the West Bank had been gathering in front of large screens, watching live the voting process and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the UN General Assembly. In the Gaza Strip, as the results of the voting appeared, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in speeding cars as the clock ticked 12:00 midnight, waving Palestinian flags, posters of Abbas and yellow flags of his Fatah movement.