{"id":37,"date":"2016-12-22T17:28:02","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T17:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/?p=37"},"modified":"2016-12-22T17:28:02","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T17:28:02","slug":"briefing-on-the-united-nations-vote-on-palestinian-statehood-and-un-membership-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/20161222-briefing-on-the-united-nations-vote-on-palestinian-statehood-and-un-membership-in-september","title":{"rendered":"Briefing on the United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood and UN membership in September"},"content":{"rendered":"
After the Israelis refused to extend their settlement freeze last September, leading to the break-up of the peace talks, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would seek recognition as an independent state and membership of the United Nations at the General Assembly in September.\u00a0 Already well over 100 countries (representing 80-90% of the world\u2019s population) have recognised Palestine and have said they will vote for Palestine to become a member of the UN.<\/p>\n
There will be two votes in September.\u00a0 One on recognition of Palestine as a state and, if that is passed, another on admission of Palestine as a member of the United Nations. The UK is still undecided and its vote could be very influential.\u00a0 116 countries have so far said they will vote to admit Palestine to the UN and two thirds (128 or up to134 if all countries are present) is needed to be certain.<\/p>\n
Although the US will use their veto at the Security Council, this can be overridden (according to most lawyers) by a two-thirds majority at the General Assembly. Membership of the United Nations will greatly strengthen the Palestinians hand in challenging constant breaches of international law by Israel in the occupied territories, eg blockading Gaza, expanding settlements, building the wall inside the West Bank, expropriating Palestinian land, deporting Palestinians from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
The Government\u2019s official line is still that \u201cthe way to a viable and secure state is through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians\u201d (William Hague replying to Labour MP Margaret Curran on June 14).<\/p>\n
Hague also told Margaret Curran MP that he is undecided on whether to vote for FOR or AGAINST a Palestinian state and the UK Government \u201cwill make a decision on UN membership only at the appropriate time\u201d.\u00a0 He told Labour MP Sandra Osborne that \u201call European countries \u2026 have withheld a decision on the question of Palestinian recognition and membership of the UN\u201d.\u00a0 This was being done largely to pressure the Israelis. As he told Tory MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind: \u201cOne advantage of the United Kingdom and other EU nations considering our position on this matter over the next few months is that it will maximise the pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians to enter such negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander has pressed the Government on when they will decide how to vote but has yet to take a position himself. Labour front-benchers have held meetings with senior Palestinian politicians from Fatah who are looking especially to Labour (as Fatah is a sister party) to put pressure on the Government to come out unequivocally in favour of Palestinian UN membership.<\/p>\n
In his UN speech last year President Obama set the target of September 2011 for \u201can agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations \u2013 an independent, sovereign state of Palestine\u201d.\u00a0 The EU endorsed this target. So did the Quartet. He has however urged European countries to vote AGAINST UN membership on the grounds that there should be negotiations first.<\/p>\n
In his speech to both houses of the US Congress in May the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu publicly rejected President Obama\u2019s call for an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and made it clear that Israel wants to keep most of the West Bank in Israeli hands. He said the \u201cvast majority of the 650,000 Israelis who live beyond the 1967 lines \u2026 will be incorporated into the final borders of Israel\u201d. That would put most of the western side of the West Bank inside Israel as well as the thick wedges of Israeli settlement that reach into the centre of the occupied Palestinian territory.\u00a0 He also said: \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely vital that Israel maintain a long-term military presence along the Jordan River.\u201d That would mean that the whole of the eastern side of the West Bank and the whole of its external border with Jordan would remain in Israeli hands.\u00a0 A map showing what would be left if the Israeli settlements and military areas stayed with Israel is shown below (on the far right).<\/p>\n
In two sentences he thus torpedoed any chance of a resumption of peace talks and humiliated President Obama.\u00a0 For this he won a series of standing ovations from the members of both houses of Congress. You can see this speech and the standing ovations almost at the end of every sentence on Youtube . This speech \u2013 and especially the applause from the audience \u2013 has done more to convince the Palestinians of the absolute futility of the peace process than any other event in the last ten years.\u00a0 If you watch it you will understand why.<\/p>\n
Israel was offered 55% of British Mandate Palestine by the UN partition plan in 1947, took 78% of the land by military conquest in the 1948 war of independence (forcing half the Palestinian population out) and occupied the remaining 22% in 1967. No country recognises Israel\u2019s right to any of the West Bank or east Jerusalem, including the US, and the UN has voted many times for an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders covering 22% of the Mandate territory (second from the right on the map below). If the settlements and military areas were excluded, the Palestinian state would be about 12% of the Mandate area (with a population close to the population of Israel).<\/p>\n
It will make Palestine a state with observer status at the UN (at present they are just a liberation movement with observer status).\u00a0 Crucially, it will recognise Palestinian sovereignty over the occupied territories. At the moment the international community rejects Israel’s occupation of those territories but it does not yet recognise Palestinian sovereignty. This will turn the Israeli army from occupiers of what they claim is a \u201cdisputed territory\u201d into invaders of a sovereign state and a fellow member of the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Recognition will greatly strengthen the Palestinians hand in challenging Israel\u2019s constant breaches of international law in the occupied territories, eg blockading Gaza, expanding settlements, building the wall inside the West Bank, expropriating Palestinian land and deporting Palestinians from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Israel is mobilising its embassies to lobby for a vote AGAINST recognition in September.\u00a0 It has set up a special team to coordinate the campaign and told its diplomats (according to leaked documents published in Ha\u2019aretz) that:\u00a0 “This team is analysing \u2026\u00a0 options \u2026 to foil the process\u2026 You are to report on your activities \u2026 once a week. Your plan must include approaching the most senior politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 27 European Union states have been targeted as the key battleground in Israel\u2019s diplomatic campaign. Netanyahu and Lieberman have visited the UK, Ireland, Italy, and will make separate trips to Romania and Bulgaria, and then to Poland and Hungary in the coming weeks to shore up support for Israel\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s only argument is that a UN vote would bypass the peace negotiations and this violates the principle that the only route to resolving the conflict is through bilateral negotiations.\u00a0 But there are no negotiations and Israel finished them off by restarting settlement building (who would negotiate while the goalposts are being moved every day?).\u00a0 There is no historical precedent for an occupied people being left to \u201cnegotiate\u201d their own freedom with the country that is occupying them.\u00a0 Israel is now reckoned to have the fourth largest armed forces in the world. The Palestinians have none. The Palestinians have nothing to negotiate with other than international support.<\/p>\n
Most European countries appear to be leaning toward supporting the Palestinian resolution but Obama and the Israelis are working hard to stop more countries, especially European countries, from joining them.
\nWill the Fatah-Hamas divisions make any difference? President Abbas negotiates as the head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (representing all Palestinians) and not as the president of the Palestinian Authority (representing only the occupied territories), so talks were able to go ahead in spite of the dispute between Fatah and Hamas. But the reconciliation between Fatah, Hamas and the other Palestinian parties signed in Cairo in May is a huge step forward.<\/p>\n
In their view the Palestinians are asking for no more than they have been promised. Any backsliding now will undermine the credibility of mainstream Palestinian politicians and tip Israel and Palestine back towards violence. They do not see admission to the UN as an alternative to talks but the best guarantee that negotiations will go forward on a more equal basis.\u00a0 If the promise of an independent state is broken, the Palestinians say they will not return to negotiations which have yielded precisely nothing in the last 23 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After the Israelis refused to extend their settlement freeze last September, leading to the break-up of the peace talks, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would seek recognition as an independent state and membership of the United Nations at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":140,"url":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/20110703-briefing-on-the-united-nations-vote-on-palestinian-statehood-and-un-membership-in-september-2","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":0},"title":"Briefing on the United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood and UN membership in September","date":"3rd July 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After the Israelis refused to extend their settlement freeze last September, leading to the break-up of the peace talks, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would seek recognition as an independent state and membership of the United Nations at the General Assembly in September.\u00a0 Already well over 100 countries (representing\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Map-palestinian-loss-of-land-1946-2009.jpg?fit=1200%2C816&quality=80&strip=all&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":163,"url":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/20110916-mps-show-support-for-palestine-in-un-vote","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":1},"title":"MPs show support for Palestine in UN vote","date":"16th September 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Parliament heard passionate pleas for the Palestinians to be granted recognition as a state and admission to the United Nations as MPs prepared for the conference season. Labour\u2019s Sir Gerald Kaufman urged the Foreign Secretary to vote in support of the Palestinians when the UN meets in New York later\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20110916_temp.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&quality=80&strip=all&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42,"url":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/20110506-reconciliation-and-a-palestinian-nation","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":2},"title":"Reconciliation and a Palestinian nation","date":"6th May 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"If Britain and the US will not stand up for Palestine at the UN, they should not obstruct those who will, says Mark McDonald The process of peace between Palestine and Israel has been long and complex, with many taking entrenched views and adopting their own interpretation of history. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/placeholder_grey.gif?quality=80&resize=350%2C200&strip=all#038;strip=all&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":154,"url":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/20110914-jack-straw-urges-mps-to-back-the-palestinian-statehood-bid","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":3},"title":"Jack Straw urges MPs to back the Palestinian statehood bid","date":"14th September 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Jack Straw writes to MPs to urge them to support the Palestinian statehood bid.\u00a0 His letter his published in full below: Dear Member of Parliament I haven\u2019t signed an EDM for many years but last week I decided to break the habit of (nearly) a political lifetime by putting my\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"Jack Straw","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/jack-straw.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&quality=80&strip=all&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/20110920-the-government-should-follow-the-lead-of-the-labour-party-and-support-the-palestinian-bid-for-recognition-at-the-united-nations","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":4},"title":"The Government should follow the lead of the Labour Party and support the Palestinian bid for recognition at the United Nations","date":"20th September 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Simon Danczuk MP The Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, Simon Danczuk MP welcomed the announcement from the Shadow Foreign Minister, Douglas Alexander MP, supporting the Palestinian bid for recognition at the United Nations. Mr Danczuk backed the letter Douglas Alexander sent to the Foreign Secretary\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Painted-Palestinian-flag.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&quality=80&strip=all&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":159,"url":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/20110923-president-mahmoud-abbas-speech-at-the-unga","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":5},"title":"President Mahmoud Abbas' Speech at the UNGA","date":"23rd September 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"President Abbas statement to the UN - Full Official Text of Speech at the UNGA Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, At the outset, I wish to extend my congratulations to H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"Mahmoud Abbas","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Mahmoud-Abbas-at-un.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&quality=80&strip=all&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfpme.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}