98 Days to Go
Some Rays of Sunlight

By Sherwin Pomerantz

98 days from now the United Nations General Assembly’s 2011 session in New York will open and New York City will be a good place to stay away from, as the world’s leaders gather for their individual presentations.

But while just days ago it appeared that the Palestinian desire to move ahead with a resolution recognizing statehood was sacrosanct, it now appears as if there is some softening around the edges, so perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not a train coming the other way.

Earlier this week after the visit of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel to Washington, the two leaders held a press conference in the White House. President Obama once again spoke about the peace process here and used the following words:

I thanked the Chancellor for her support for the principles that I laid out last month as the basis for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. And I want to commend Angela for her personal efforts to bring the parties back to the negotiating table. Just as we agree that both sides will need to make difficult choices, we agree that unilateral actions -- such as Palestinians seeking a vote on statehood at the U.N. General Assembly -- should be avoided.

So while the President made reference to the remarks he made last month on the issue, he did not repeat them but rather made a point of stating that unilateral action by the Palestinians for the UN to recognize their state should be avoided.

As for Chancellor Merkel, she responded by saying:

We talked about the Middle East peace process. I think this was a very important initiative to point out yet again that the United States of America, just as Germany and the European Union, wish to promote a further development of the peace process. We’re saying this to both countries: We want a two-state solution. We want a Jewish state of Israel and alongside an independent Palestinian state. Unilateral measures are not helping at all to bring about this cause, and we agree that we wish to cooperate very closely on this, because as we both say, time is of the essence. And looking at the changes in the Arab area and the Arab region, it would be a very good signal indeed if it came out that talks between the parties are again possible.

She, too indicated Germany’s support for the American position vis-à-vis the UN and reiterated the general framework which has always been the basis of discussions without mentioning specific borders. And she referred to Israel with the phrase “a Jewish state of Israel.”

Couple this with the news out of Ramallah this morning that while Chairman Abbas seems committed to continuing the fight to get the UN to vote in favor of recognition of statehood, a number of senior advisors including Prime Minister Salam Fayyad seem to feel that this action is not in the Palestinian’s long term interest.

David Ben Gurion, Israel’s founding father and first Prime Minister is reputed to have said “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.” A statement that still rings true today. We dare not relieve the pressure but realism demands a dash of hope as well.