Whoever waits for US and Israel to change their Palestine policy will wait a lifetime
In deciding to seek full UN membership for a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Arab League is announcing that the current wave of self-determination in the region needs to translate into a more independent Arab foreign policy. And despite President Barack Obama’s claim that the UN move would give the Palestinians only a symbolic diplomatic victory and nothing else, plus the unlikelihood that a Palestinian state would be declared — given it would need the support of all five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council to be recognized — the Arabs are saying that whoever waits for America and Israel for change will wait a lifetime.
In the wake of major Middle East policy speeches in Washington by Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the impossible conditions imposed on peace by Netanyahu preclude Palestinian acceptance of any agreement. The Palestinian leadership cannot cede Palestinian rights or compromise on fundamental constants — the inviolability of the 1967 lines, Jerusalem and the refugees.
What the Palestinians can do is exploit the present dynamics that have greatly empowered them. Despite the Palestinian plight on the ground, politically and diplomatically they are in their strongest shape in years: Buoyed by the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, by the mass activism of the Arab world that finally flowered into a Palestinian Spring in the Nakba protests on May 15, and by the huge international consensus for statehood at the UN. All three could be harnessed for a showdown over recognition in September.
Categories: Americas, Asia, Israel, Palestine, United States