79 Days to Go

Chinks in the Armor….Take Heart!
By Sherwin Pomerantz

As of today there are 79 days to the opening of the United Nations General Assembly and the vote on recognizing Palestinian statehood. It appears that chinks are developing in the armor and that even among the Arab population in the region, it is not a given that a unilateral declaration of statehood is the way to go.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in an interview with the Associated Press earlier this week said that:

"UN recognition of a Palestinian state would largely be a symbolic victory and would not change the reality of the Israeli occupation."

Asked if anything would change on the ground after UN recognition, he said:

"My answer to you is no. Unless Israel is part of that consensus, it won’t because to me, it is about ending the Israeli occupation."

Writing in Kuwaiti newspaper Al Watan, journalist Abdallah al-Hadlaq stated on June 22nd:

"The Palestinians strive to obtain premature recognition for a “Palestinian State” this September despite the danger of derailing the peace talks, which is implicit in a unilateral declaration…..A unilateral declaration will not conclude the conflict but only make matters worse, making it more intense instead of ending it. The Palestinians seem to have lost their keen interest in negotiation aimed at a reaching a deal, and now only want to act unilaterally in ways that will never solve key problems in the current impasse - which can only be tackled through direct talks between the parties concerned. Continued Palestinian obstinacy just complicates the conflict. As the Palestinians press on unilaterally for premature recognition of their ”State”, they ignore Israel’s right to exist peacefully as the state of the Jewish people, recognized and living within its borders. "

Interesting words from the Arab world to be sure, coupled with more and more pressure on the organizers of the next flotilla to abandon their plans. Of course, all of this as the UN continues to play the game as it were. Yesterday and today, in Brussels, the UN’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is hosting what they call the United Nations International Meeting in Support of the Israel-Palestinian Peace Process. Many nations will be represented in Belgium at these sessions except one that was not invited…Israel.

Is it conceivable that the very same UN that is being petitioned by the Palestinian Arab leadership to grant them statehood sponsors a meeting on the peace process here and does not invite Israel? Can any organization that does this have credibility? Perhaps Salam Fayyad and Abdallah al-Hadlaq (quoted above) understand this and realize that even if the UN General Assembly were to accede to the petitions of the Palestinian Arab leadership, the vote would, indeed, be meaningless,.

I am not saying that there would be no fallout. I have no doubt that the fallout would be significant and that the lives of those of us here could turn into a living hell come the winter. But intelligent Arab voices now seem to be speaking out with an understanding of the folly of pursuing the UN vote.

Therefore, it is all the more important that people write to the UN delegates now urging them to vote “no” should this come to the floor of the General Assembly. This not because it is bad for Israel, but because it is bad for the region and recognition at this time would, in and of itself, contribute to the further destabilization of the region.

That, of course, does not let us off the hook either. World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder in an address to the participants in the International Congress of Jewish Parliamentarians meeting here in Jerusalem this week, castigated the Prime Minister of Israel for not having put forth Israel’s plan for peace. He said that Israel must present a diplomatic plan in order to regain international support and block Palestinian efforts to obtain unilateral recognition for statehood from the UN in September.

As you know I have been saying this for some time as I believe our thrust has to be bi-directional. On the one hand we need to use all of the resources at our disposal to thwart the UN vote while on the other hand the world must be made aware of our diplomatic plan to end the stalemate and bring peace to the region.

Theodore Roosevelt once said “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” We need to internalize that concept and fast!