Top Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat is reporting today that the PA has decided to move forward with its long-promised UN bid, seeking a status-upgrade to “non-member state” status.
Now they are entering into talks with a number of Arab states at the UN, who will help them with the precise wording of the resolution, which is seen as virtually certain to pass the UN General Assembly, where the US cannot veto it.
Erekat says the decision to move forward came after talks with the US, as it became clear once again that the US stance has not changed on the stalled peace talks with Israel. The talks have been on hold since September of 2010, when Israel resumed the expansion of their settlements.
The US has issued a formal “warning” to all the governments of Europe warning them not to vote in favor of non-member state status for Palestine, threatening financial sanctions if the vote passes.
Israel also warned against pursuing the resolution, saying that obtaining “non-member state” status would harm the chances of Palestine ever becoming an independent nation, which Israel believes can only happen if the Israeli government officially confers that status on them.
"obtaining “non-member state” status would harm the chances of Palestine ever becoming an independent nation, which Israel believes can only happen if the Israeli government officially confers that status on them"
So Israel is the one that decides? Really??? Not the UN? In the Israeli world the Israelis will never confer state status on the Palestinian territories… territories it covets for itself empty of Palestinians of course. So the Palestinians lose nothing by going to the UN… it is a win win proposition for them.
The two-state solution is looking more and more like a pipe dream with one state and an Arab majority more and more like a reality. Nonetheless, one wonders how the US can continue to get away with bullying the UN member states or rely on Israel to confer state status to the Palestinians. Netanyahu thinks that the settlements will sufficiently change the facts on the ground to exclude the possibility of any viable Palestinian state. Maybe so, but unless Israel follows through with another ethnic cleansing and expulsion of Palestinians, the changing demographics will become a new reality on the ground, and force Israelis to choose between a truly democratic state and one that is an authoritarian garrison state.
And people in this country continue to ask: why do they hate us?