Israel and its few remaining supporters cannot claim that they were taken by surprise by the Palestinian Authority’s success at the UN, where the General Assembly voted 138 against 9, with 41 abstentions, to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of non-member observer state.

This spectacular result was coming, and any farsighted nation should have anticipated it. It was only a matter of time until the Palestinians would reach this goal, especially after the many years of fruitless peace negotiations with Israel, which, by the way, insists that peace can only come through talks that it consistently refuses to initiate or accept.

The UN member states who voted in support of this Palestinian bid must have done so out of frustration with Israel’s foot-dragging all these decades. The vote must have been one of no confidence in Israel, whose ruthless occupation of the Palestinians is at the root of so many ills in the region.

The newly acquired status has political significance for the Palestinians. Not only was a Palestinian state recognised in the West Bank by the international organisation — granted, with a diminished status — it also opened new doors for the Palestinian Authority to seek wider recognition by other UN agencies, including the WHO, ILO and, more importantly, the International Criminal Court where the Palestinians could take the Israelis responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which are many, to justice.

Israel may try to punish, one way or another, the Palestinian Authority for its “audacity”. It has already threatened to withhold taxes collected for the Palestinians.

No matter what Israel does, however, the Palestinians’ success at the UN will continue to dominate the new dynamics of their conflict with Israel and put this people under occupation on a new footing.

The upgrade of the Palestinians’ status is a game changer that all sides should take note of, especially Israel.

Now the logical thing to do is to return to discussions that would lead to the two-state solution as the only sensible and fair way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

http://jordantimes.com/rightful-gain