Exactly 65 years after Palestinians rejected a United Nations partition plan for Israel, the organization granted statehood to Palestine on Thursday.

The historic General Assembly decision to accept “Palestine” as a non-member observer state won’t immediately change lives there, since much of the territory of that state — the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — remains under Israeli control.

Palestinians say the recognition isn’t just symbolic. They believe U.N. recognition will strengthen their hand in future talks with Israel, which has lambasted the Palestinian move as an attempt to bypass such negotiations.

Some University students feel that the U.N.’s decision may not change much in the Middle East.

“I think for the most (relations) will stay the same,” said Lauren Neiberg, president of Israel Illini and senior in LAS. “It’s safe to say for now nothing is going to change.”

Yet many Palestinians savored the massive global recognition — 138 of 193 General Assembly members voted “yes,” with 41 abstentions — following decades of setbacks in the quest for Palestinian independence in lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

“It’s a great feeling to have a state, even if in name only,” said civil servant Mohammed Srour, 28, standing in a flag-waving a crowd of more than 2,000 packed into a square in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “The most beautiful dream of any man is to have an independent state, particularly for us Palestinians who have lived under occupation for a long time.”

The United States and Israel immediately criticized the vote.

“Today’s unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path of peace,” said U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

Dana Al-Qadi, graduate student and member of Students for Justice in Palestine, said recognizing Palestine as a state will not impede the peace process.

“I believe the United States voted no because Israel voted no, and the U.S. foreign policy is very much dictated by Israel and their desires,” she said.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the U.N. vote as meaningless and accused Abbas of delivering a “defamatory and venomous” U.N. speech “full of mendacious propaganda” against Israel. Netanyahu argued that the U.N. move violated past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and that Israel would act accordingly but did not elaborate on what steps it might take.

The Palestinians reject Israel’s claim that the recognition bid is an attempt to dictate the future borders of Palestine. Instead, they say, it’s a last-ditch attempt to rescue peace efforts threatened by Israeli settlement building on occupied land. Since 1967, half a million Israelis have settled on lands the U.N. says are part of Palestine.

Tariq Shihadeh, president of Students for Justice in Palestine and sophomore in DGS, said the U.N. vote will affect Palestinians more than Israelis.

“I think probably it will have little effect on the state of Israel but more so on the Palestinian people,” he said. “It will create greater unity for the Palestinan people.”

Most immediately, the Palestinian Authority, which relies heavily on foreign aid and is struggling with the worst cash crisis in its 18-year history, could face further funding cuts over the U.N. bid.

The affirmation of the pre-1967 line as the border of Palestine also poses a direct challenge to Netanyahu who has refused to accept that demarcation as a basis for border talks with the Palestinians. Abbas and his aides have said that the Israeli leader’s rejection of such a framework for negotiations, accepted by his predecessors, helped push them to go to the U.N.

The Palestinians could also gain access to U.N. agencies and international bodies, most significantly the International Criminal Court, which could become a springboard for going after Israel for alleged war crimes or its ongoing settlement building on war-won land.

In Washington, a bipartisan group of senators warned the Palestinians they could lose U.S. financial support of millions of dollars a year and risk the shutdown of their Washington office if they use their enhanced U.N. status against Israel.

Israel could also suspend the monthly transfer of millions of dollars in tax rebates it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, a punitive step it has taken in the past.

Safia Kazi and Sari Lesk contributed to this report.