The Palestinian Authority is still trying to get world recognition of Palestinian statehood without negotiating with Israel. They continue to try and bypass Israel and now it appears that an important step toward that goal will happen. Today, the U.N. will vote to recognize a Palestinian state of areas they already control in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem and thus will raise them to a nonmember observer state and it’s expected to pass:
NATIONAL JOURNAL – The Palestinians are sure to win recognition as a state by the United Nations on Thursday, the Associated Press reported, despite opposition from Israel and the United States.
Palestinians are seeking U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in 1967. The move would raise Palestinian status from a U.N. observer to a nonmember observer state, and only requires a majority to pass. France, Spain, Switzerland and other countries have indicated support.
Palestinians say they need U.N. recognition to be able to resume peace negotiations with Israel, but Israel and the U.S. worry that the move would actually slow the peace process.
Arutz Sheva points out below that it’s no accident that the Palestinian Authority is seeking this recognition today, November 29, that they are trying to steal Israel’s heritage:
It’s no accident that the Palestinian Authority is bringing its “case” to the United Nations on November 29 – a day that has for 65 years been identified with the State of Israel.
“It’s very typical of the PA to choose the day that Israel was recognized as a state by the UN as the date for their state’s recognition,” said one historian. “The PA has tried to co-opt so many Jewish and Israeli symbols in the past, and the co-opting of November 29 fits right in with that,” said Moshe Siebel, a history afficianado.
The 29th of November is perhaps the only date on the secular calendar to be adopted into the Hebrew calendar, feted as “Kaf-Tet b’November..” Streets in many cities in Israel bear the name, and in the past it has been celebrated as a semi-holiday by Israelis as the day that the United Nations officially partitioned Palestine in 1947, and declared that a portion of the soon-to-be-defunct British Mandate for Palestine be reserved for a Jewish state.
Now, in 2012, the PA is set to get UN General Assembly recognition for a state on land it already controls, but cannot have an army on at present. In a vote later Thursday, the UN is expected to recognize ‘Palestine’ as a non-voting, non-member observer state.
P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu released this statement today against the vote, declaring that Palestinians must recognize the state of Israel before there can be peace:
“Israel is prepared to live in peace with a Palestinian state, but for peace to endure, Israel’s security must be protected. The Palestinians must recognize the Jewish State and they must be prepared to end the conflict with Israel once and for all. None of these vital interests, these vital interests of peace, none of them appear in the resolution that will be put forward before the General Assembly today and that is why Israel cannot accept it. The only way to achieve peace is through agreements that are reached by the parties directly; through valid negotiations between themselves, and not through UN resolutions that completely ignore Israel’s vital security and national interests. And because this resolution is so one-sided, it doesn’t advance peace, it pushes it backwards.
“As for the rights of the Jewish people in this land, I have a simple message for those people gathered in the General Assembly today: No decision by the UN can break the 4000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.”