Source of the picture

Source Huffington Post:

Just nine nations voted against the Palestinian Authority’s upgrade to nonvoting observer state status, which passed the General Assembly 138-9, with 41 abstentions.

Voting “no” Thursday were Israel, the United States and Canada, joined by the Czech Republic, Panama and several Pacific island nations: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. The Pacific nations typically support the U.S. and Israel at the U.N. on key General Assembly resolutions.  Read further in the Huffington Post.

Source: CNN

By Fareed Zakaria

The Palestinian Authority has won its campaign to be recognized as a non-member state of the United Nations. The question now is whether this will change anything.

Probably no. It will give the Palestinians a little more recognition and greater legal status in certain international fora. But the vote doesn’t change the reality that the only way the Palestinians are going to get a state is if Israel decides that it is in its interests to make it happen. Israel has the power on the ground, The country’s leaders have made it clear that they are not going to be pressured by the UN, defeated in battle, they are not going to be intimidated, they are not going to be terrorized – I think the history of the last three decades has made all of this very clear.

So the question the Palestinians should be asking themselves is, how do we get the Israelis to see this as in their interests?

There was an intriguing column earlier this week by Jeffrey Goldberg, who makes a suggestion that has also been made by some Palestinians in the past, that the Palestinians should stop pushing for a two-state solution, and instead push for a one-state answer.

Here’s how I would imagine the scenario unfolding: Mahmoud Abbas would announce that he is dissolving the Palestinian Authority in three months because he has recognized that there is no prospect that it will lead to a state under the current framework. He would also explain that he is returning all obligations and authority to the state of Israel.

…

The question Abbas needs to be asking is not whether the Palestinians can get Ban Ki-moon to give them a state, but can they get Benjamin Netanyahu to give them one?  Read the whole story in CNN

The Muslim Times’ answer to Fareed Zakaria

If the Muslim Times can answer the question on behalf of Mahmoud Abbas then this is how we will state it.  The reason Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will want to give Palestinians a state is because Israel does not want to be on the wrong side of history, in struggle of human rights for every resident of this planet and Israel will not want to defy a popular public opinion in the world.

How can we explain the map in the above picture?  In a few words:

1.  Non-aligned movement.

2.  Durban I and Durban III.

The Muslim Times cannot over emphasize the necessity of non-violence in all Palestinian initiatives, otherwise they lose much of the good will or political capital, they have gathered in the world.