Ramallah, West Bank – The Palestinians are seeking U.N. recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem this fall in hopes it will give them more leverage in negotiations with Israel, the Palestinian president wrote in a newspaper opinion article published Tuesday.
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With such recognition, “Palestine would be negotiating from the position of one United Nations member whose territory is militarily occupied by another … and not as a vanquished people ready to accept whatever terms are put in front of us,” Mahmoud Abbas wrote in The New York Times, presenting his most detailed explanation yet of his reasons for the U.N. bid.
Read here his OpEd in The NY Times
A U.N. admission would also “pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one,” Abbas wrote, saying this could lead to legal claims against Israel, including at the International Court of Justice.
Although international recognition wouldn’t immediately change the situation on the ground, it would isolate Israel and put additional pressure on it to withdraw from occupied territories.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano told Abbas during a visit Monday that Italy would join several other European countries in upgrading Palestinian representation to a diplomatic mission, just short of a full-fledged embassy.
A former Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Gabriela Shalev, told Army Radio on Tuesday that she foresaw “an apocalyptic scenario” of increasing diplomatic isolation, and possible cultural, political and economic sanctions of the kind exercised against apartheid South Africa, should the Palestinians go through with their unilateral declaration.
Israel, she said, has to “show that we candidly want to return to direct negotiations with the Palestinians and do what the prime minister himself spoke about, make painful concessions,” Shalev said, without elaborating.
The Palestinian leader has repeatedly said reaching statehood through negotiations with Israel remains his first choice. However, he has said he cannot resume talks as long as Israel continues to expand settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, thus establishing facts on the ground and pre-empting the outcome of negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slowed West Bank construction for 10 months last year, but rejected international demands for a complete freeze. Netanyahu has accused Abbas of setting preconditions by refusing to return to talks without a construction stop. About half a million Israelis have moved to lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
Underlying the settlement argument are wide gaps over the shape of a final deal.
Netanyahu insists on keeping east Jerusalem — the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital — and has not said how much of the West Bank he is willing to relinquish. The Palestinians insist on a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, but are willing to accept minor adjustments.
Netanyahu also assailed Monday the unity government Abbas is attempting to form with the Islamic militant Hamas, following a four-year split. “Those who want to destroy us are not partners in peace,” Netanyahu said, referring to Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Netanyahu reiterated a willingness to agree to a Palestinian state under certain conditions but made clear he did not believe it was possible if Hamas does not recognize Israel. “I want to make peace with a Palestinian state that wants to end the conflict. I am not willing to accept a Palestinian state that wants to continue it,” he said.
President Barack Obama is to deliver a Mideast speech on Thursday and meet with Netanyahu in Washington a day later.
Wasn’t Jordan recognized as the Palestinian state in 1948 after partition?
There is already a Palestinian state called Jordan. There is no need for a second one. (Unless there is a need to destroy the only Jewish state).
Why do the Palestinians deserve an independent country and not the Kurds? Let’s see if the big mouth Edrogan would allow to establish an independent Kurdistan on territory now occupied by Turkey and then he should talk about the occupied territory in Israel.
Designing a Palestinian State out of a “palestinian” free ride on Jewish Soil is perhaps a choice that the Universe can make, but I wonder if this is in the plans of Our Designs of Hashem. That said, if it is, I wonder if the first act of this new state is going to be a declaration of War against Israel or a true peace. But that said, Peace clearly does not look to be their goals and one might wish to consider that by making a state for these factions of arabs that are thriving in their insanity on Jewish soil and really are just squatters on a land that was given to Abraham, Issac and Jacob’s descendants makes me just think that if There is a state in the future, it may not be the future for all of the years to be lived ahead of the children in the future. Hashem Bring Justice to the Land of Zion! Baruch Hashem!
When I write that I hope that Justice be brought to the Land of Zion. I am pleased to say that Justice has already mostly been established with the return of the Jewish people in the feelings that I have as a Jew and as a human being with an Organized American Way of Listening to the way that it seems that Our Creator has been designing this Present and Future Planet. But that said, I anticipate that those who are not likely to be in Gods plan for the future of Life in the Holy Land will indeed lead dismal futures until they are indeed wise to learn that God has a purpose for the Land of the Jewish Land of The Jewish Temples and the Jewish land that was given so truthfully in the Torah to the Descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Be it what it may be, there is always Trust that Our Creator has it all under his Control. Baruch Hashem.
I’m not to worried about this, its going to be the 3rd time that the UN is recognizing them as a state. Does it mean anything other than formality? I really don’t think so.
I agree with this, in the long run it hopefully will be better for both the situation as is is now is just not working
Netanyahu reiterated a willingness to agree to a Palestinian state under certain conditions but made clear he did not believe it was possible if Hamas does not recognize Israel.
He doesn’t really want a Palestinian State. He wants the U.N. to declare that the State of Israel is null and void.
I would like to make the case for bringing unicorns to the moon. I wonder if the venerable New York Times will give me space on their editorial page to make the case.
Too bad!! He is a little late!! Maybe he wants to de-throne King Abdullah!! Just like his grandfather?? Find another country Mr. Abbas!!
Abbas’ piece is full of lies… Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic as well as some of the Jewish/Israel bloggers are going through his statements in the op-ed and finding factual “problems”.
During the first Gulf War in 1991 Kuwait expelled 400,000 Palestinians because Arafat (Y”Sh) supported Saddam Hussein, and they didn’t like have them there any more. These weren’t just guest workers. Many, many of them were born there and their families had lived there for generations. Think about it – almost half a million people. It was a true campaign of terror and ethnic cleansing. And what does Abbas have to say about that? Unbelievably, he has apologized to Kuwait that the Palestinians sided with Irag. No, he’s not asking for Kuwait to let them back in. He probably thinks they should go live in Israel.
mr. abbas i have only two words for you and they are not happy birthday.
they are DROP DEAD!!!!!