WJC president: Palestinian UN bid will cause terrorism

Lauder warns that hard-line Palestinians will view PA UN bid as diplomatic failure, resort to violence as alternative for struggle.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Lauder 311 (photo credit: Yoav Heldman)
Lauder 311
(photo credit: Yoav Heldman)
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder warned on Wednesday that hard-line Palestinians will likely see recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations as nothing more than failed diplomacy, and will encourage terrorism against Israel as a viable alternative.
Lauder said that "Israel will inevitably reject any externally imposed solutions," therefore proving to Palestinians that diplomacy is not the right way to achieve independence, and that "resistance" is the only option left available.
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The WJC president said that deep divisions within Fatah will make the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) faction unable to responsibly govern a Palestinian state, and that the ensuing terrorism will be a distraction from the power-struggle already playing out between Hamas and Fatah.
Lauder also said that a Palestinian resolution "would provide easy ammunition for those seeking to exploit deeply hostile attitudes to Israel and the Jews" in the region.
He said that while the World Jewish Congress supported a shift towards democracy in the Middle East, it would be "naive" to see such an outcome of the Arab Spring as certain.
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