Where Do We Go from Here?

Five things that Palestine could do to push forward the quest for statehood.

BY HUSSEIN IBISH | SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

In a perfunctory meeting on Wednesday morning, Sept. 28, as expected, and per its usual procedure for dealing with would-be new United Nations members since the late 1960s, the Security Council referred the Palestinian application to one of its standing committees. The committee -- which meets and votes in secret and requires unanimity to refer the matter back to the Security Council -- is scheduled to begin considering the application on Friday morning. The membership process usually takes weeks, but can take only days (as with the most recent U.N. member, South Sudan) or years (as in the case of Kuwait). Neither the committee nor the Security Council is under any specific obligation to act on the request in a limited time frame, so the process theoretically could drag on indefinitely.

Because the required nine-vote Security Council majority is by no means yet ensured, and because the United States is publicly committed to vetoing a Security Council vote if one ever takes place anyway, full U.N. membership is effectively barred for the Palestinians under the present circumstances. Therefore, the application will have to serve as leverage to achieve something else if it is to produce anything meaningful. So what options does this leave the Palestinians? Let's take a look at five, moving from the least to the most confrontational:

1) Declare moral and political victory and move on.

The Palestinians have made their moral and legal case for statehood in President Mahmoud Abbas's speech and their formal application. And if the established international peace process should decisively fail, they do have other options, no matter how risky. The Security Council referral to the committee buys everyone time to look for compromises, particularly given that the Palestinian membership bid cannot succeed. If they choose not to press the issue in the Security Council, the Palestinians could seek advantages in other venues, as follows.

2) Work with the Quartet on more advantageous language for renewed negotiations. It is highly significant that the Middle East Quartet -- the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the U.N. Secretariat -- issued a statement in conjunction with Abbas's address and the Palestinian application. The statement showed that the Quartet has not resolved the differences that emerged in its ranks this year, particularly over whether Palestinians should be required to recognize Israel as a "Jewish state." But it reasserted the importance and viability of the established processes.

Working with the Palestinians and the Israelis separately, the Quartet could issue a statement laying out the framework for new negotiations, timetables, and even clearer terms of reference that might provide the Palestinians with a significant diplomatic achievement -- even if the renewal of direct talks with a reasonable prospect of success has to wait until political circumstances in the United States, in Israel, and among the Palestinians become more favorable.

EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

 

Hussein Ibish is a senior research fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine and blogs at www.Ibishblog.com.

ABBAN AZIZ

4:13 PM ET

September 30, 2011

Problems problems

*Abbas was elected to a 4 year term, he is now in his seventh.
*Half of Palestine does not recognize the Abbas government (Gaza).
*Abbas is trying to mend ties with Hamas, a terrorist organized recognized by the EU and US. You might scoff at that, but the Palestinians are highly dependent on aid from the US and EU.
*US has mediated this conflict based on the Oslo Accords, Abbas has stomped on those agreements he signed (that the US signed as well). Palestine as a state was recognized based on Arafat's recognition of Israel. Abbas spoke of Israel's 60 year occupation. Israel has occupied Gaza/WB for 40 years, not 60. Before that Jordan and Egypt ruled the land.

But Abbas says 60 because he meant all of Israel. All of Israel belongs to the Palestinians.

Really, Palestinians gave Obama no choice. If Obama does not veto the resolution then the billions poured into the "peace process" will be deemed irrelevant.

PLO is COUNTING on the US vetoing this bill. They aren't children as this author tries to pant them as. It's all one big publicity stunt. They lost a lot of attention during the Arab Spring, this is meant to bring back the media back to them. And of course the Arab states support it, Syria is still killing their citizens but the media much prefers this over real wars.

Done.

 

JEFFERSONMAN

12:42 AM ET

October 1, 2011

Abbas has no moral high ground

He is the leader of a people that voted in a terrorist network for their government. One of the requirments for the Palestinians to have thier own state is they must recognize Israels right to exist. In the May 16th, New York Times editorial Mr.Abbas says: "Palestine's admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice."

This is not about Peace, its the continuation of a war thats been going on for four thousand years (Jacob & Esau). I find it sickening that the UN accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing when over a million Arab & Palestinians live in Israel, most of which are Israeli citizens. I grow weary of the criminal way the UN has treated Israel, and it must stop.

 

TARQUINIS

11:35 AM ET

October 1, 2011

Zionism: Time is nearly up

Zionism is racism and unending war.

Just read JGARBUZ as immediately above. Perfect example.

 

FRISBEETARIAN

8:08 PM ET

October 1, 2011

My god....what a loon.

My god....what a loon.

 

SABABA03

9:29 PM ET

October 5, 2011

'ZIONISM" WHAT?

What the world are you talking about?. what Zionism? it was a mere political movement, born in 1899. Its sole mission was to pave the way for Jews to return to their land from which they were expelled, where they would be safe from further persecutions and pogrom.

On the eve of 14 May 1948, it accomplished it objective and gave way to Israeli identity and nationalist.

And 63 years later, pundits and ignorants are still barking at the same tree. Give it up. Although Zionist movement may still be kept alive by small segment of Israeli society - the young and modern Israelis don't know, nor care about Zionism.

 

TARQUINIS

12:41 PM ET

October 1, 2011

Zionism: Time is nearly up

Why is Zionism is racism and unending war?

As a FACTUAL matter (see below) it is highly dubious there now can ever be a peaceful settlement.

1) The two state solution is foreclosed by forty years of illegal annexations and forced colonization of the West Bank. This process continues apace. This solution is infeasible now. See a map of the settlements.

2) The one state solution (unitary democratic and non-sectarian) confronts the issue of an absolute political sovereignty based on race. A "Jewish" state. A master race. This is clearly a racist formulation. The Palestinians from whom the land was stolen, they should not have equal rights in a one state solution? Just why exactly? Not “chosen” by Jehovah?

3) An Apartheid solution cannot be sustained. The second class conditions of Palestinians within Israel proper, denied such as building permits and sewer connections or employment on an equal basis, with homes subject to arbitrary demolition for new "settlements" etc., the third class conditions of those in the West Bank, penned in like animals by vast concrete walls, whose vehicles are subject to immediate and non-recourse confiscation if they even drive on the roads, and the fourth class conditions of those unfortunates in the Gaza ghetto, subject to white phosphorous bombing and mass death and devastation as in Operation Cast Lead, all of this just cannot be sustained. To any but a Zionist, this is clearly a foul Apartheid state.

4) The “population transfer” solution in Zionist speak (expulsion of millions of Palestinians to Jordan at the point of a bayonet) is simply not feasible either. No solution there.

5) The Palestinian cause and demands for justice, including the same right of return that the Jews maintain, has the full backing of a quarter of all humanity, being the entire Muslim world, and much of the rest. The de-legitimization of Israel continues apace.

6) No military solution. All the vast military power and all the nuclear weapons of Israel are useless to resolve this impasse. The cancer is internal, political, economic, demographic, and is growing.

It is too late now. The Zionists such as JGARBUZ won. But unending war never works out well.

 

ABBAN AZIZ

3:39 PM ET

October 1, 2011

Response

*Israel never annexed the West Bank. Settlements occupy a whopping 2.5% of all West Bank land.

*Jews are not a "master race." This is a view propagated by Muslims to justify their killing. Jews are just people who have a right to self-determination as anybody else. What you say is precisely what the Nazis said before they sent the Jews to concentration camps.

*Arabs in Israel are not second class citizens, they have a higher quality of life and more rights than any Arab people. And if given the choice, they would much rather remain in an apartheid, racist Zionist state- than a jew free Palestine.

No Palestinians would have to move to Jordan. Most already do. 1,000,000 live in Jordan. 400,000 live in Lebanon. 60,000 live in Egypt. 250,000 live in Syria. 1.500,000 live in Gaza. 1,000,000 live in the West Bank.

Solution: Palestinians in Jordan become citizens there. OH WAIT - they ALREADY ARE!
Solution: Palestinians in lebanon become citizens.
Solution: Palestinians in Egypt and Syria become Palestinians.

Arabs in the WB can have a state - independent of Gaza, assuming they actually negotiate in good faith.

 

TARQUINIS

1:57 PM ET

October 1, 2011

Zionism: Time is nearly up

I doubt if A NEW DAWN and JGARBUZ even read my post of 12:41 PM ET.

The two state solution is now infeasible as a result of forty years of illegal annexation and colonization of the West. If anyone sees a map of these "settlement" locations, it is obvious by their dispersal that there is no feasibility for the two state solution anymore.

Both these Zionist posters, if differing slightly on emphasis and ideology, have no objection to a one state solution, provided it casts in concrete that it is a state defined by the absolute racist sovereignty of one group. Again I ask, why? Is there any other democratic state in the world that has succeeded on this basis? Is a phony biblical your authority for this?

A one state solution to be successful, can only be unitary, democratic, and non-sectarian. And this is flat out unacceptable.

Hey, I grant once again, you guys won. The die is cast. Objectors like me are merely antisemitic. We failed. There is no way anymore to a peaceful outcome.

But you won't like the outcome. Unending war always has a bad outcome.

Hey, I grant freely that you guys won. There will be no peaceful and mutually agreeable settlement.

 

CALCINHA

12:12 PM ET

October 2, 2011

And that whole renegade

Benny Morris, who is taken seriously no longer complies with the "Palestinian narrative." Let anyone dare come forth with any historical basis for any "Palestinian" or other Arab state having ever existed in the Land of Israel. Thanks!
Ar Condicionado Imoveis Acompanhante Massagistas Curso Ar Condicionado

 

COLINDALE

8:19 PM ET

October 2, 2011

NETANYAHU NEGOTIATES IN BAD FAITH

NETANYAHU NEGOTIATES IN BAD FAITH

When will the world learn that the Israeli Likud coalition government has no intention of there EVER being a Palestinian state in the West Bank?

Netanyahu negotiates in bad faith. His sole intention is to eventually transfer (ethnically cleanse) all Arabs out of the West Bank and Jerusalem. The facts are there on the ground. The illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel has been built half way between the major Arab towns of Nablus and Ramallah, 13 miles east of the Green Line in the very centre of the Palestinian West Bank, in order to deliberately frustrate the will of the UN. It has nothing whatsoever to do with so-called security. It is everything to do with gaining an illegal political advantage in violation of UN resolutions and the specific will of the international community.

The urban settlement stands astride an important underground aquifer that should supply essential water supplies to the Palestinian community but instead supplies the urban settlement of 20,000 illegal settlers.
The Ariel settlement was built with the support of Shimon Peres, former defense minister and now the Israeli president who wanted to ensure the Palestinian West Bank was kept under Israeli control.

Netanyahu negotiates in bad faith. The charter of the Likud Party of which he is leader, denies any Palestinian state in the West Bank.

 

JOSSEFPERL

10:47 AM ET

October 4, 2011

Who are "We" Mr. Ibish?

Clearly the "We" in the title of this article refers to the Palestinians, so one knows where Mr. Ibish is coming from. I don't know where the Palesinians go from here, but I do know where Israel should go from here. By taking a unilateral action outside the peace process, the Palestinians violated the Oslo agreement. The question that must be asked is why should Israel trust any future agreement with the Palesinians? The answer is clear, it should not. Israel must make sure that the Palestinians pay a price for violating the Oslo agreement, by freezing any peace negotiations for at least 5 years. Otherwise, the Paalestinians will conclude that anytime they do not get what they want at the negotiation table, they will go to the "same well", i.e., the UN where they can only find a sympathetic ear. The Palestinians pretend that going to the UN was because negotiations were not going ANYWHERE. Can they point out to any significant compromises they offered during the negotiation? No!

 

PHAEDRUS3

1:34 PM ET

October 4, 2011

IGNORE THEM

Khalid Mufti and Tarquinus use the language of violence in a barely concealed racism that is beyond objectionable. To be specific (pay attention FP editors) he is calling for the Endlosung, a Nazi term for final destrcution of the Jewish people. So FP is giving a forum to a neo-Nazi racist. Tarquinus is of the same exact stripe. Jgarbuz, do not sink to their level, or engage them at all.

I call on everyone who reads this to simply not respond, not even once, to KM or Tarquinus. Doubtless they will re-emerge under new names, but we will know them by their evil. Just don't give them anything, starve them of the bilious air they need to survive.

This topic needs a rational discussion, not their distracting garbage.

 

SABABA03

8:22 PM ET

October 4, 2011

Palestinian leaders Real agenda.

The various stages of Islamists Agenda to eliminate Israel, and subjugate the Jews to Islam.

PHASE I: THE DENIAL & DE-LEGITIMIZATION.
1) They label the Israelis with names, like “Zionists” (means “Jews” w/o sounding antisemitic), intended to render them as “outsiders”, or “colonialists”.
2) Deny the Holocaust, to remove the very reason for which Israel was created. (re: the Akmed in Tehran).
3) Question & deny the Jewish history, or their continued presence in and around Jerusalem (Arafat: in 2000 Camp David).
4) They repeat the same false accusations on every public stage. (Abu Mazen speech in UNGA. “Jerusalem is to Christians and Muslims”)

PHASE II – “ZIONISM” AND THE “APARTHEID” EFFECT.
1) They Know that Zionism was a political movement, created in 1899 to empower the Jews to live in their own homeland, safe from further persecutions.
2) They emphasis only the role of the European Jews, - while never mention the 1.2M Jewish refugees, whom themselves had pushed out from their own countries.
3) Wrap the “South Africa” noose and its infamous “Apartheid” system around the Israelis neck.
4) Continue try to convince the world community (through UN Resolutions) that Zionism is a system of Apartheid – which they did succeed of doing for a period of time.
5) They know that, by calling Israelis “Jews”, they have affirmed Israel's right to exist as homeland for Jews, which so far these Islamist have refused to do.
6) Follow the late Nazi, Joseph Goebbels's gospel. “A lie, if repeated loud, and repeated often enough, soon people will believe it as the absolute truth.
7) Never admit in public (certainly not in English), that subjugation of Jews, is the Islamists ultimate objective - prescribed in Islam's holy book.

PHASE III: THE PROVOCATION & THE VICTIMIZED.
1) Coupled with Phase II, they keep low intensity provocations (such as rockets from Gaza), and hope for IDF response (which most certainly does follow). Then,
2) Show the gory pictures of dead children to TV viewers world wide, to generate sympathy for them, and anger against the Israelis.
3) Repeat it often enough such that, the picture of “the ugly Israeli solder shooting innocent civilians” is kept fresh in people's mind and heart. Render Israel as “racist”, “brutal”, and “ugly” element living among the “peaceful” Arabs.

PHASE IV: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE
1) Recognizing the power of words. When speaking for the Palestinians, they use keywords like, “Justice”, “fairness”, “Indigenous people”, “occupied territories”, “victims”, “legal owners”, and “Right of Return” , “International law”- to conjure up positive imagery of the Pals in people's minds.
2)When however, it comes to Israel, they use words like “Stolen land”, “Occupier”, “discriminations”, “Apartheid”, “massacre”, “criminal”, “war Crimes”, and even “Genocide” is brought up.
3) They keep their people in those refugees camps, throughout the Arab & Islamic states since 1948” to:
a) Continue to play on peoples emotions and sympathy – keep the flame of anti-Israeli alive.
b) Keep the 6M or so refugees as “reserve solders” to be used at the right moment to flood Israel – all under the pretense of “Right of Return”. Then use its democracy to destroy, not only its democracy, but itself as the homeland for Jews.
4) Refer to the land of Israel as, “Islamic land” (Waqf), to incite the larger Muslim crowd.
5) In English to the world media, Palestinian leaders speak of “peaceful co-existence with Israel”. In Arabic to their own crowd, they shout of “war” and “annihilation of the infidels”.
6) “The good Guy / Bad Guy” scenario. While PLO in WB, depicts the image of the “civilized” “peace loving Palestinians” who is ready to compromise. Hamas in Gaza, plays the opposite role. To force the Israelis for more and more concessions, until nothing is left for them to concede.
7) Use homicide bombing to create psychological fear among the Israelis, with hope they will flee. (“Jews love life, we love death”).
8) Through continued propaganda, render Israel as the source of the problem, and its eliminations as the only solution to all the unrest throughout the Islamic countries.

 

NEGIYINELIM

9:58 AM ET

October 6, 2011

Negiyinelim

www.negiyinelim.com

 

JULIAZ

10:19 PM ET

October 9, 2011

Just another tactic of continuing what has just begun years ago

I don’t think that Abbas wants to achieve peace based on the statement that was just released. I believe that this is yet another contributing factor to talk about the issue between the Palestinians real origin, and perhaps where do they really belong and their supposedly – ever wanted rights of their claimed land. As long as there won’t be any cooperation between the Israeli and the UN together with the Palestinians, I don’t think that the issue on the Jewish rights, Palestinians rights, and anti inflammatory issues will ever come to an end. When will the time come when our history books will finally state the conclusion?

 

YARINSIZ

9:30 PM ET

October 28, 2011

Both these Zionist posters,

Both these Zionist posters, if differing slightly on emphasis and ideology, have no objection to a one state solution, provided it casts in concrete that it is a state defined by the absolute racist sovereignty of one group. Again I ask, why? Is there any other democratic state seslichat in the world that has succeeded on this basis? Is a phony biblical your authority for this? A one state solution to be successful, can only be unitary, democratic, and non-sectarian. And this is flat out unacceptable.