Editorial
The case for Palestine
Abbas has seized the initiative
There are perfectly good reasons to support the Palestinian application for membership of the United Nations. The pity is that the United States, despite President Obama's initial enthusiasm for a new trend to be set in the Middle East, now stands ready to veto the proposal when it comes before the Security Council. The degree to which the Obama administration now aligns itself with Israel's leader Binyamin Netanyahu was clearly reflected in the stony silence Washington's UN envoy Susan Rice maintained even as delegates from other nations applauded President Mahmoud Abbas' remarks before the General Assembly on Friday.
It would be wrong and a travesty of justice for Mr. Abbas' claim to membership for his country in the world body to be dismissed on grounds as spurious as they are fatuous. The Israeli contention that the establishment of a future Palestinian state is contingent on talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives is today misplaced, for the simple reason that Tel Aviv, under Netanyahu as also under his predecessors, has systematically impeded any move for a settlement of the issue. The blockade of Gaza, the targeted assassinations of prominent Palestinians, the relentless building of Jewish settlements on occupied land, et cetera, have always laid bare the unwillingness of the Israeli establishment to carry the peace process forward. No one understands this conundrum better than former US president Jimmy Carter, whose sympathies have clearly been for the hapless Palestinians. The irony is that Carter's views are not now shared by the present occupant of the White House.
President Abbas has placed his cards on the table. It is now for Barack Obama and Netanyahu to choose between rejecting the Palestinians' bid for statehood and reaching out to Abbas in the interest of a comprehensive peace. Such peace will of course have to be based on a withdrawal of Israel to the pre-1967 borders, which would also mean a restoration of the status of Jerusalem as it was before the Six-Day war. A Palestinian state without Jerusalem, or its eastern part, as its capital will be pointless. On a broader consideration, such a state must be a fully functional one, in line with international law and conventions.
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