India, Sept. 12 -- The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to back the "New York Declaration", which seeks a two-state solution for the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine but without the involvement of Hamas, which currently controls the Gaza strip.

India was among the 142 countries which voted in favour of the declaration, 10 countries had voted against it while 12 countries decided to abstain from voting. The United States and Israel were among the countries which voted against the declaration.

The text, which is formally called 'New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State solution' was endorsed and co-signed by 17 UN member states in...