United Nations ? The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Tuesday night endorsing a Palestinian state for the first time, supporting a U.S. measure that also calls for an immediate cease-fire in the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The resolution, the first the United States has introduced since the latest bloodshed began in September 2000, came hours after Syria tabled a Palestinian-backed resolution. The U.S. measure won support from 14 of the 15 council members, with Syria abstaining.

The Security Council has adopted a number of resolutions over the years calling for Mideast peace, but none had referred to the contentious issue of a Palestinian state. But President Bush and other administration leaders recently called for a Palestinian state as have other nations.

The measure calls for an immediate cessation of violence and a resumption of negotiations. It also encourages a Saudi Arabian peace initiative and diplomatic efforts by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni and others.

In last minute negotiations, U.S. officials added a sentence “affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized borders.”

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte described the document as “a strong resolution on the Middle East,” capturing a broad consensus on the goals and next steps in the peace process and speaking out strongly against terrorism.

“Our intent in doing this was to give an impulse to peace efforts and to decry violence and terror,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of Arab nations, Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe labeled it “very weak,” saying it doesn’t deal with the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  “the question of the Israeli occupation.”

Syria abstained, rather that voting against the resolution, “to send a message” and not break the unity of the council, Wehbe said.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, called the resolution important and welcomed the council’s first reference to two states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side. Even though the Palestinians didn’t support everything in the U.S. text, he indicated if he had a vote he would have approved it.