Barring a sudden change of mind, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
will ask the UN General Assembly on Thursday to recognize Palestine as a
non-member observer state of the world body. The long anticipated PA scheme,
bypassing direct talks with Israel, will do little to advance the prospects for
achieving a permanent peace accord, or an actual independent Palestinian
state.
The US, as well as several European countries, have urged Abbas to
not go ahead with this diplomatic maneuver. There could be adverse ramifications
for the PA, akin to the US cutoff of funding to UNESCO after that UN body
admitted Palestine as a member. What will be the consequences of UN General
Assembly action is not totally clear, but such uncertainty should be enough
motivation for the Palestinian leader to reconsider.
Abbas, however, is
convinced that he must proceed because he promised the Palestinian people and
the world that he would. He ostensibly delayed the formal request of the UN
General Assembly until after the US elections. After failing last year to get UN
Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state, to admit the country that
does not yet exist as a full UN member, he seeks what he considers the next best
move, General Assembly upgrading of Palestine’s status.
That the PA has
the votes was never in doubt. The Non-Aligned Movement, meeting in Tehran in
August endorsed the proposition, and the same 120 countries will guarantee
passage when they vote in the UN General Assembly. As Abbas seeks additional
support among the 27 EU nations, opponents of the measure already have indicated
that European abstentions would be considered a defeat for the PA.
Over
the weekend Abbas declared that he expects President Barack Obama, in his second
term, to deliver on his promise before the UN General Assembly two years ago to
join with other UN member states in welcoming Palestine as a full member of the
world body.
But establishing a Palestinian state still requires a
comprehensive peace agreement with Israel. And the only path to sustainable
peace is direct negotiations. While Washington will help the parties to the
talks along the way, Abbas chose to walk away from dealing with Israel directly
several years ago. He also has spurned the Obama administration’s efforts to get
his representatives to return to the table, and to not do anything, like this
week’s UN gambit, to further block potential peace process
progress.
Going to the UN General Assembly is pure symbolism. Exactly 65
years ago, on November 29, this same UN body adopted the resolution to establish
in British Mandatory Palestine two states – one Arab, one Jewish – to exist in
peace and security. The Arab world, so vehemently opposed to the groundbreaking
vision of that partition plan, tried to extinguish the new state of Israel, and
many across the region still seek Israel’s annihilation.
The contours of
a two-state solution have not altered much since 1947, but the ground has
shifted dramatically during the so-called Arab Spring, posing new security
challenges to Israel, to the US and, importantly, to those Palestinian leaders
who say they aspire to achieve peace with Israel.
Abbas has been further
marginalized by Arab leaders who have displayed support for the Hamas regime in
Gaza. The emir of Qatar was the first head of state to visit Hamas-controlled
Gaza, three weeks before the escalation of rocket attacks that led to Israel’s
military response. During the Hamas-Israel fighting Tunisia’s foreign minister,
Egypt’s prime minister and, finally, a larger delegation of foreign ministers
from Arab countries and Turkey, came to Gaza and embraced Hamas prime minister
Ismail Haniyeh.
The one Arab leader notably absent was Abbas. Yet, none
of the Arab countries dispatching emissaries to Gaza considered visiting
Ramallah. Hamas reportedly refused to take phone calls from the PA
president.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did make the effort to meet
with Abbas in Ramallah as the US sought to negotiate a Hamas-Israel
ceasefire.
Her request, following up on a phone call from Obama to Abbas,
that he forsake going to the UN this week, was rebuffed.
Abbas may well
think that UN General Assembly endorsement of his request to upgrade Palestine’s
status will boost his standing among Palestinians and in the wider Arab world.
Hamas, however, vehemently opposes Abbas’s UN gambit as well as the PA he
heads.
Abbas still has an opportunity to save the peace process. He will
endure criticism from those who cannot countenance recognition of Israel. But he
can lead the many Palestinians who truly aspire, for themselves and their
families, to achieve peace with Israel. Returning to direct talks is the only
practical option.
The writer is the American Jewish Committee’s director
of media relations.
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