NY Times: Editorial: …….Last year, the Palestinian Authority toyed with submitting an application for full United Nations membership, but backed off in the face of overwhelming opposition from the United States and Israel. Instead, it won membership in an affiliate, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, where Washington does not have veto power.
Now the Palestinians plan to seek admission as a ‘nonmember’ observer state in the General Assembly. The 193-member Assembly is dominated by developing nations that are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and are expected to approve the application next month.
It is not a move that will do anyone any good. It will not change facts on the ground, and it will come at a cost. After last year’s initiative, Israel withheld millions of dollars in tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority; the United States halted funding for Unesco, and Congress is withholding $495 million in assistance for the Palestinians, the State Department says. Both countries are likely to react the same way again, although there is a danger in bankrupting the Palestinian Authority, which has begun to build the institutions of a state, including a police force, that also contribute to Israel’s security.
Categories: Age, Discrimination, Europe, Human Rights, Palestine
Blackmail seems to be part of politics.
My personal suggestion to the Palestinians would be to aim for the One State Solution. The Arabs would be in the majority soon. And then fight against Apartheid.
(Who knows, the Israelis might BEG the Palestinians then to accept a Palestinian State, with UN membership…!!! to avoid the Arab-Majority One State.