MIFTAH
Thursday, 28 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet “To be or not to be that is the Question” I could not help but come up with a few alternative lines concerning the UN Bid

To go or not to go that is the question
Whether to suffer the measures of occupation
The outrageous checkpoints and wall of separation
Whether to indulge in futile negotiations
Or take our case to the United Nations
To go or not to go is no more the question

While the news of the Arab Spring is still flashing on the various news channels with the trial of Husni Mubarak and the unknown fate of Gadaffi, the Palestinians have been busy with their bid for recognition at the United Nations. The statements, discussions, panels, and numerous analysis and articles have covered the subject fully from all aspects; the pros and cons, the dilemmas and opportunities; the hope and despair, the disappointment and futility. Irrespective; to go or not to go is no more the question because the Palestinian Authority has made its decision to go since it has no other option to the stalemate in the peace process and the futile negotiations that have been going on for more than eighteen years.

However, it is clear that there is no consensus amongst the Palestinians regarding that initiative. How could the body that created the problem by unfairly partitioning Palestine in 1948 and who failed ever since to force Israel to implement any of the UN resolutions pertaining to the rights of the Palestinians, be credible and entrusted with the realization of the Palestinian dream of liberation, and independence . So it is understandable that many Palestinians, especially those in the diaspora and in the refugee camps would be worried that the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and especially the right of return will not be realized, or that the Palestinian state, if and when recognized, would be far removed from the dream of the Palestinians for restoring justice.

But why is Israel so much against the initiative? We need to remember that Israel never acknowledged that the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, internationally recognized as occupied territory in 1967 were actually “occupied” by Israel. At the beginning, Israel considered them “administered” while later on, when the negotiations started after the Oslo Accords in 1993 they referred to them as "disputed territory" wherein Israel's claim would be as good as anyone else's, since it considered that those territories never had independence any way. Of course East Jerusalem was unilaterally annexed and was placed outside the discussion altogether. The scenario that Israel projected claimed that it acquired that territory fair and square in a war that the Arab countries waged against Israel in 1967. That, over and above the divine right that Israel always claims to have over the whole land of “Eretz Yisrael”. According to that belief, those territories are considered liberated and that Israel is the one making very hard concessions by giving the Palestinians a part of their land.

With that kind of logic, and with all the new realities that Israel has created on the ground through the government and army-supported settlements, it has become glaringly clear that it has no room for a Palestinian state along-side the state of Israel as the Palestinians were made to think in the Oslo Accords.

What is really puzzling and disappointing is the reaction of the USA administration. Should it be genuinely interested in peace and stability in the region as well as in the security of Israel which president Obama, like previous presidents, continues to emphasize as a priority in US policy, it should be the first to approve the principle of a Palestine State. Actually it is interesting to remember that Mr. Obama, in his speech at the United Nations in September 2010 said: “the world can have an agreement that will lead to the creation of a new Palestinian state next year.” He must have forgotten his words because without even seeing the details of the Palestinian bid, or trying to forge that agreement that he spoke about, Mr. Obama sent two of his envoys Mr. Dennis Ross, and Mr. David Hale to convince Mr. Abbas to change his mind. Why? Mr. Abbas has been humiliated enough when the negotiations were going on. Every time he would threaten not to return to the negotiating table, and rightly so, the US administration would intervene. For the sake of Peace the Palestinians had made more concessions than any party in this conflict. Mr. Obama himself must have had a taste of that humiliation when the Israeli prime minter Benjamin Netanyahu shunned him and turned down his request to stop the settlements so that the negotiations would be resumed. Mr. Obama did not only cave in, he reacted by promising more aid and a large attractive package of military aid to Israel, whereas for just contemplating to go to the UN, the right body to solve world problems –or for that matter to create them - the USA administration has been threatening to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority. What a shame. Is this the democracy that the USA has waged wars for? I hope that great country will continue to be a haven for so many oppressed people who have found in it refuge and a great opportunity for a peaceful and a secure life. Dare we hope??

To go or not to go to the United Nations is no more the question.

 
 
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