In effect, what the Palestinians want is for the world to spell out what the international community has repeatedly said it wants to see: a sovereign Palestinian state built on the land occupied by Israel in 1967.
Palestinians are getting ready for the biggest diplomatic battle of their recent history. This is becoming apparent, in light of the high-tone of political statements exchanged by Palestinian, Israeli, and other officials.
Senior Palestinian officials have announced that they intend to go to the United Nations Security Council and secure a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Such a resolution would by no means change the rules of the game or the already accepted terms of a resolution to the conflict, Palestinians argue.
The resolution that Palestinians - along with the Arab League - now seek would not instate Palestinian sovereignty. Rather, it would recognize what the Palestinian state should look like – more importantly, what territory it would include. In effect, what the Palestinians want is for the world to spell out what the international community has repeatedly said it wants to see: a sovereign Palestinian state on the land Israel occupied in 1967. There are several UN resolutions to that effect. The International Quartet has endorsed this vision repeatedly. Former US President George Bush and current President Barack Obama also endorsed it.
Now, Palestinians want to test international commitment to these statements. So far, main world players have failed this Palestinian test.
Cold international shoulder
Senior American officials were quick to reject this Arab-Palestinian intention. State Department spokespersons said on Monday that while the “US supports the creation of a Palestinian state”, it would not support pushing this “unilaterally” through the Security Council.
The European Union followed the Obama Administration. Twenty four hours after Palestinians officially asked for EU support in this effort, the Union’s Chief Foreign Policy Representative Javier Solana said it was too early to talk about Palestinian statehood, adding, “That has to be done with time and calm and at an appropriate moment”; strange reaction from a politician who advocated an even bolder international step in July.
The Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was equally unexcited. Speaking to journalists in Brussels, the Minister said, “We would be ready to recognize a Palestinian state but conditions are not there as of yet.”
Palestinians disappointed, but not giving up
On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was stern. Speaking from Cairo, he said there is no justification for the American and European positions. Many say his statement reflected a deep sense of the betrayal Palestinians now feel towards world powers they have come to feel has abandoned them and left them alone to deal with the impossible conditions imposed by a military occupation that is only cementing its control, rather than ending it.
What Palestinians seek, Abbas said , is a translation of the positions adopted by the EU and the Obama Administration.
The occupation must end and the Palestinian state must be established, Palestinians say. The time is right, they insist, because the formula the world has thus far allowed to continue has reached a dead end; no longer can the world leave the occupier and occupied to negotiate a way to end the occupation, they say.
The world must make good on its promise and support the Palestinian’s exercise of sovereignty over their homeland Palestinians say.
Palestinians already declared independence
Palestinians insist that they are not seeking or planning a unilateral declaration of independence. Rather, what they need now is international support to outline where they would exercise sovereignty in their state. Palestinian independence, they remind, has already been declared.
On November 15, 1988, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat stood in Algiers and declared Palestinian independence over the land Israel occupied in 1967, which is a mere 22% of historic Palestine.
This historic announcement happened during the nineteenth session of the Palestine National Council [PNC] of the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO].
In the span of 15 days, 105 countries recognized this virtual declaration of Palestinian Independence, as an expression of political support and recognition of Palestinian struggle, rights, and the historic concession embodied in this declaration.
This declaration was historic because it signaled the Palestinian acceptance or endorsement of the two-state solution and more boldly perhaps, the tacit Palestinian commitment to international resolutions, namely those resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council on the conflict.
The Madrid Peace Conference and the Peace Accords that followed were a byproduct of this historic decision in Algiers. But 18 years on, the Israeli regime of settlements, the Wall, and bypass roads, now occupies about 40% of the West Bank. International reports say settlements have quadrupled since the beginning of the now paralyzed peace process. And Occupied East Jerusalem is isolated from its Palestinian surrounding and the expulsion of Palestinian residents there is happening at an unprecedented rate.
Israelis and Palestinians who have spent a lifetime working to see a Palestine and an Israel living side by side now question the professed international commitment to this vision. The majority of Palestinians support a two-state solution but see no light at the end of the negotiation tunnel anymore. In light of the current impasse, their dismay may only be deepening.
