Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states and became the birth certificate for Israel.
The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the state of Palestine.
This, according to the New York Times, was how Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas challenged the UN to formally recognize Palestinian statehood.
The 193 members of the General Assembly duly obliged by voting 139-9, with 45 abstentions. Except that the UN issued this birth certificate with fine print indicating that it only entitles Palestine’s status to be upgraded from a “[non]entity” to a “nonmember observer state.” Which is rather like being invited to join a corporate board but being told that you will have no say or vote on agenda items.
I have written repeatedly that Hell will freeze over before the Palestinians and Israelis resolve all of the issues that are forestalling Palestinian statehood.
(“Showdown At UN Over Palestinian Statehood,” The iPINIONS Journal, September 22, 2011)
Alas, this UN vote amounts to little more than a triumph of symbolism over substance. Yet it’s an indication of how terminally contentious the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is that the Israelis reacted with outrage – as if this certificate entitles the Palestinians to build nuclear weapons; and the Palestinians reacted with glee – as if it entitles them to push the Israelis into the sea.
In a similar vein, it came as no surprise that Israel and its superpower enabler, the United States, voted even to deny Palestine this certificate, which is not worth the paper it’s written on.
‘Today’s unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path peace,’ U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the vote ‘unfortunate’ and ‘counterproductive…’
[T]he office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement calling Mr. Abbas’s speech ‘defamatory and venomous’ that was ‘full of mendacious propaganda against the IDF and the citizens of Israel.’ These are not the words of a man who wants peace.
(New York Times, November 29, 2012)
Many commentators are parroting the Times’ sensational headline about this vote being “a blow to U.S.” in terms of its reputation and influence. Except that, compared to the blow the United States suffered for invading Iraq, this blow is akin to receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
Well, to be fair, this certificate at least entitles Palestine to file grievances against Israel for human rights abuses before the International Criminal Court. But this will prove even more feckless than Yemen filing grievances against the United States for drone strikes. Having access now to international financial institutions, like the World Bank and IMF, will prove equally meaningless because of the de facto power of the United States to impose “roadmap-to-peace” conditions on any loan or grant Palestine seeks….
Not to mention that Abbas would serve the cause of Palestinian statehood far more by unifying his Fatah faction, which rules the West Bank, with the Hamas faction, which rules the Gaza Strip. For it’s arguable that the “two-state solution” being proffered to resolve issues between Israel and Palestine should be proffered in the first instance to resolve issues between Fatah and Hamas within the divided house of Palestine.
The people have spoken! Let Hamas govern as best they can – if civil war with Fatah (terrorists?) does not render governing even more difficult than it already promises to be….
(“Hamas ‘Terrorists’ Win Legitimate State Power in Gaza,” The iPINIONS Journal, January 27, 2006)
Indeed, the following famous words by Abraham Lincoln are not only topical because of the very popular movie Lincoln, but also apt because they crystalize this a fortiori and equally contentious challenge the Palestinians still face:
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Related commentaries:
Showdown over at UN…
Hamas terrorists…