Abbas to seek full UN recognition despite Western pressure
President Obama meets with Abbas in effort to convince him not to seek Security Council recognition, warning that U.S. would use its veto power to block it.
By Natasha Mozgovaya and Barak Ravid Tags: Palestinian state Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian Authority Barack Obama UN Security Council Gaza FranceNEW YORK - Despite heavy pressure from the West, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas remains determined to formally apply for UN recognition of a Palestinian state today.
U.S. President Barack Obama met with Abbas last night in an effort to convince him not to seek Security Council recognition, warning that the U.S. would use its veto power to block it. Lower-level American officials also met with Abbas several times, but to no avail.
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U.S. President Barack Obama talking with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in New York in September 2011. |
| Photo by: AP |
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, reiterated yesterday that Abbas' statehood bid will not contribute to the peace process and will merely delay the start of negotiations - which, she added, are the only way the Palestinians can actually achieve independence.
American officials also continued their effort to mobilize enough Security Council votes to defeat the statehood bid without a U.S. veto. Germany has already announced it won't vote yes, and Rice said she is convinced other countries will do the same. America, she said, is not the only country to realize that the UN gambit is unproductive.
Meanwhile, France spent yesterday pushing a compromise in which the UN General Assembly would upgrade the PA to the status of a nonmember state in exchange for the PA dropping its bid for Security Council acceptance as a full UN member.
The French proposal also calls for Israeli-Palestinian talks to resume with a fixed deadline: six months to sign a final deal on borders and security arrangements and another six months for a deal on all other outstanding issues, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told Haaretz. In addition, the Palestinians would have to promise not to take any steps that would violate the spirit of the peace process, such as filing charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court. That would include withdrawing the complaint Palestinians filed to the ICC in 2009 over Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
Juppe said the Americans have expressed interest in the French proposal, but Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, didn't echo that assessment at a briefing for reporters. Rhodes said Obama had discussed the initiative with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and believes it contains some important ideas; Obama shares Sarkozy's view that resuming negotiations is vital. However, Rhodes added, there is a key difference: Washington opposes any UN vote on the matter.
Juppe also acknowledged that Israel is unenthusiastic. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly told American and European officials that he opposes any UN recognition of a Palestinian state - even if it is only by the General Assembly, whose resolutions are nonbinding - and he reiterated that to Sarkozy yesterday.
Moreover, it's not clear on what terms negotiations would resume: Azzam Ahmed, a senior aide to Abbas, reiterated yesterday that "There will be no negotiations whatsoever as long as Israel refuses to freeze settlement construction and accept the 1967 lines as the terms of reference for the negotiations," and Israel has repeatedly refused to accept those preconditions.
But the French initiative appears to have wide support in the European Union. Spain and Britain have already pledged to support it, and Germany has promised to do so as well if it includes some key provisions important to Israel, especially with regard to the ICC. Altogether, a senior European diplomat told Haaretz, 25 of the EU's 27 members support the plan.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee, said that a large bloc of Arab, African and Latin American states also back the French proposal, as does Abbas. Abbas, he said, sees no contradiction between the French plan and his own decision to apply for full UN membership.
But Abed Rabbo also said that Abbas told Obama he won't tolerate any political intervention to delay the Security Council's handling of his application, and the French proposal would seem to call for precisely that: Under it, Abbas could still submit his application to the council today as planned, but would not work to bring it to a vote.
Both Abbas and Netanyahu will address the General Assembly today, the former at 6:30 P.M. Israel time and the latter at 7:15 P.M. Abbas will then formally submit the PA's request for UN membership to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ban will then brief Netanyahu on its contents, at Netanyahu's request.
Last night, Netanyahu and Ban held a lengthy meeting during which Netanyahu sought details on UN procedures for handling the PA's application. Ban told Netanyahu that to aid the international effort to block the statehood bid, Israel must make a significant gesture to Abbas. He also urged Netanyahu not to impose any sanctions on the PA afterward.
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everyone backs it but Israel and the US... WHY? these two are not interested in a fair peace.
I'm in a fix, i have been saying for years that the only resolution is for the parties to live up to their responsibilities outlined in the Roadmap to peace, and that it is my goal bring about two states, IT is MY signature issue.... even Abbas said that it was ME and MY previous statements that convinced him to go forward with the vote today, but with re-election on my mind now, what can i do, did you see what happened to Weiner's seat, I need to say something to regain the support of Jewish people...Taqyya now, Obama now
The Palestinian initiative has aldready been wildly successful. They have managed to sideline the USA from its previously eclusive role of mediator in the the euphemistically titled "Peace Process" Obama came out so masively on side with Israel that the true USA position and its bias is cast in stone. That process is dead ,and will never be the same. THe Palestinians have received good publicity. When the dust and hysteria settles down, new and more productive negotiations will result which will require banging a few heads together, rather than continuing Israeli Appeasement.
US President Barack Hussein Obama understands the Israeli-Palestinian issue very clearly. President Obama knows the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is at a dead end. Earlier President Obama tried to revive the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by mandating a complete West Bank settlement freeze, only to be forced embarrassingly by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to back down. May President Obama had the temerity to publicly tell Israel that its current policy towards the Palestinians is untenable and unsustainable, and to modestly suggest a negotiating formula to break the impasse, President Obama was publicly chastised by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and had to submit to the humiliation of seeing the US Congressional leaders of the Democratic Party repudiate him in favour of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Eventually President Obama has washed his hands of the Palestinian issue. Once again, President Obama is being forced to publicly support an Israeli policy position fundamentally opposed to his own. President Obama knows very well that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has no intention of permitting formation of a viable Palestinian state, and that the Palestinians have little choice but to pursue their current course at the Uniteed Nations. The America's lonely support for Israel and the inevitable US veto of the Palestinians' bid for full membership at United Nations will terminally undermine the US position in the Arab World, and will expose the USA's nominal support for popular Arab rights as a fraud. USA again undermines its security and its global position, pointlessly and gratuitously, in blind allegiance to ungrateful and self-destructive Israel. - Nalliah Thayabharan
They already have that UNGA vote in the bag; they know it, the French know it, everyone knows it. So why should they give up something in return for a status that is already their's for the taking? Doing that will only give the credit for the UNGA vote to Sarkozy, when the credit really belongs to Abbas. After all, it was Abbas who lined up all those votes in the Assembly, not the Little Frenchman.
So submitting war crimes to the ICJ is "hindering the peace process" but settlement expansion and further land theft and ethnic cleansing is not...... given that it is not even mentioned. My God, 1984 truly has arrived. The due process of law is bad, war crimes are good. It's not just the US that has sold it's soul to the devil here folks. Since 1947 the British army and officials as well as counterparts in the UN stood by while Hagana forces ethnically cleansed and executed masses of civilians. The drums of justice are beating ... ever so faintly ....but come they will.
Embrace yourselves for some violence after the U.S. veto. If Abbas tries to stop it, he may find himself living in exile next to the Tunisian president in Saudi Arabia. The Palestinians have seen their dreams crushed time and again. Abbas counted on Obama and raised his expectations based on the words of a president that changes his mind faster than I change my socks. The level of disappointment in this president among the Palestinians and its leadership is unimaginable. Disappointment will turn to anger, anger will turn to violence.
{SAY} WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN? NOTHING IS: GONE NA
The Palestinians of the West Bank have tried very hard to stop terrorism, and bear with forbearance every assault, insult and affront inflicted by the Settlers. How long can such behavior persist when it is rewarded by nothing besides a jack boot in the face? Arafat is dead. The Palestinians have been convinced by Abbas to try waging peace and they have succeeded beyond any expectation. Netanyahu has made it absolutely clear that he will NEVER allow a Palestinian state, nor will he EVER stop expanding settlements. This bid is the last chance for a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian war which began in 1947. Netanyahu has chosen an endless war of extermination and ONLY the UN offers hope of avoiding that horrible outcome.
Everything that can be said on this topichas been said. One undisputed fact is that Israel 's occupation is illegal, all the settlements are illegal, all Israelis living in these settlements should be evicted and the Palestinians deserve in the minimum their soveriegn, independant and viable state without the fear of living next to a terrorist occupying power on their borders.
"UN resolutions won't bring Israel-Palestinian peace" (Obama). A self-evident truth. No UN resolution has ever brought peace anywhere. This is why Abbas didn't come to the UN to get peace for his people. Not peace, but a state. He surely knows there can be no peace between an occupied stateless population and an occupying regional power - only between two states.
Whatever the outcome is, and I truly hope it will be good for the Palestinians, at least Mr. Abbas has shown steadfastness and resolve, brought world attention to their plight, and made the nay sayers sweat it out. Good for the Mr. Abbas and his people.
This is shorthand for saying that peace is supposed to take a very, very, very, long time. In other words, don't be alarmed or even surprised if there is no peace in our lifetime. That would be shortcutting!
Your application for admission is not likely to be considered favorably if your sole agenda is to destroy another member. And your agendas are published for everyone to read. Hamas Charter, Fatah Charter, spells it all out. Nothing in them concerning welfare of their populations, only the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel. Look at the PLO insignia. Nothing subtle or hard to interpret. Come back again though, hopefully after the Arab Renaissance.
this is a lie... The fact is, settlements will stop tomorrow if Abbas says one sentence... I accept Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people... Do this and settlements stop... you get equal land to 100% of West bank... you get share sovereignty in Jerusalem... you get your water rights... you get the corridor to gaza... you get a just resolution the refugee dilemma in the form of monetary compensation to the refugees... All the problems can be solved buy just saying two words: Jewish State!
THAT is the lie, ben. Israel did indeed agree to commit itself to a complete settlement freeze to facilitate negotiations. It did so in 2003 when it signed the Road Map, and it has attempted to renege on that committment ever since. Sorry, but a written agreement is an obligation, not a "precondition", and Abbas is perfectly within his rights to insist that Israel live up to its obligations.
Many Americans are becoming very tired of the kneejerk support of Israel government actions no matter how unethical or criminal those actions are. There is a growing tendency for this disaffection to turn into anger at American Jews who push for unconditional support of Israel. Beware rousing the tiger of anti-Israel feelikng.
President of the beacon of democracy and human rights, in this picture can't see eye to eye how he is going to lead the world
Before he says "screw you, we're going for it!" Go for it, Abbas! Make the US openly dirty itself to support what even IT recognizes as a crime.
A wise man once said that trying the same dumb thing over and over again and expecting good results is insane, but the foolish Palestinian leaders don't read these wise sayings.
So now Israel will no longer be able to kill and steal from Palestinians without consequences anymore. Why is the US and Israel opposed to this I have no idea, assuming they truly want peace as they claim. This will provide the Palestinians with a peaceful avenue to pursue their grievances as opposed to fighting back.
Do you have any idea what untold suffering awaits the Palestinian people for willfully following their dysfunctional, revisionist leaders? What have you got against the Palestinian people that you would wish them continued harm and losses? The only way they can prosper is in real peace alongside Israel, not instead of it!
Time to stop being so cheap and buying a ticket to the Middle East to learn some important facts firsthand instead of basking in your BS.
If it surprises you to find out that most of those who talk about human rights and the importance of democracy also talk about support for that resolution, you might want to question the rest of the 'facts' you've been fed on the matter.
History has shown that the only way for any occupied people to achieve independence is through violence against the occupiers. The Palestinians have tried negotiations, but got nowhere, now it's time for the militants to step up and be counted.
or american intifada I.
do you really think US stands morally for any thing???
That Barak's policy is exactly the same as George Bush's, Bill Clinton's G.H.W. Bush's, Reagan's, Carter's, Ford's, and Nixon's in regards to the Occupied Territories is to be ignored. That since the the first settlements the USA has proposed land swaps based upon the 1967 borders to establish a Two-State Solution is down the Memory Hole and anyone who remembers is nothing but a supporter of Emmanuel Goldstein and enemy of Israel.
Enjoy nothing!!!
...after that things will be clear. if the usa vetoes then obama will be the president who put the lives of 350 million ameriacans at risk on behalf of 8 million jews somwhere in the desert fighting for jerusalem. i wonder if that is his real goal. the us veto will make the rest of the world even more angry. NO WAY OUT MR OBAMA! DEAD END!
You can kiss it goodbye anyways because Israel will not accept it with or without the ICC provisions. So, guys, October looks good so far.
The great majority of the world cannot stomach Israels oppression of the Palestinians any longer. The end game is in sight. Why cant Israel act with grace, mercy and honour. We will all cheer Israel if she is has the courage to be human
Why construe it as a warning and threat? All that the veto does is stop the application, but it changes nothing for the Palestinians. In fact it may be more harmful to the Americans. There is no threat here. Obama cannot hurt Abbas.
It's for the very reason that you mention i.e. that veto hurts OBAMA, but as far as Abbas is concerned it hurts him not at all. After all, what's the difference between (a) putting in the application and being knocked back and (b) not putting in the application at all? Answer: Nothing.
Because it has never happened before, people assume that the drop of a veto is as final as the fall of the guillotine, and cannot be countermanded. A number of knowledgeable persons I know say that it is possible to challenge a veto; but they don’t speculate on the chance of success since this tack has not been tried before. A veto needs to be reasonable and in compliance with related laws. If it fails that criteria, it could be disputed and referred for adjudication at the International Court by a majority of the General Assembly. I thought I would share this gem with all you folks. Given the increasing tension about reforming the Security Council, the Palestinians will have no trouble precipitating a most delicious crisis. Have a good time friends, and do enjoy the waning days of September.
The right of veto has a limited scope according to the UN Rules. The UNSC veto system was established in order to prohibit the UN from taking any future action directly against its principal founding members. The Palestinian state is in none of the above
America has been getting by for many years on a bluff that they were a fair peace broker when all they were doing was aiding and abetting settlement expansion. Obama has unintentionally let that cat out of the bag. We already knew this to be true, but Obama's clumsiness has forced everyone to deal with it out in the open for a change.
Netanyahu chose to destroy the myth that the USA was an honest broker for the pleasure of humiliating Obama. Obama, in return, supplicated himself and swore his soul to Netanyahu. There are no cards to be put down. Netanyahu will never allow a Palestinian State, and the USA will never be an honest broker for peace. If the world wants peace, it must act to cause it.
let the voice of voiceless and silenced population of palestine reach the high heavens. just once, let there be justice in this upside down world of inequality and deceit. GO WITH GOD PALESTINE!
Therefore, any settlement construction or other incident that may occur AFTER that date is a legitimate case for the ICC.
Take a look at how the Security Council will be stacked in 6 months ... all countries that can be easily influenced and strong armed by the US. There lies more beneath the ugly shell of this onion.
Now why does Israel fear the international courts? Stick it to them Abbas. Accountability is long overdue.
This is call two face, you take some one house using force, kill their children and families and then at the end you tell them ok i MIGHT give your house and land back in an year but you have to promise me that you will not complain to any one about the killings, so called HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION etc, what a shame
Israel is always complaining about the UN, so why don't you take your marbles and go home? You don't follow the charter, abide by the resolutions or respect any of its members. It is apparently a club you don't like. So leave.
"Violence is a cleansing force," Franz Fanon famously wrote about the need for Algeria to win independence through struggle, sweat , blood and tears . "Violence is a clansing force because it frees the native from his inferiority complex." The meaning and implications of this observation continue to generate ideological and intellectual controversy.
this guy just started the 3rd intifada... Every death is on his old stupid hands!
Oooops.... with TWO hands the Balestinians have grabbed yet another opportunity of missing opportunity to miss opportunity....What a fantastic goal that was... Kudos!!! Abbas for you lethal strike. Israel 5: Paletine 0.
how silly is that? in arabic, the country is called Felestine, so this childish and ignorant issue only demonstrates linguistic ignorance. ahamd, does 'realist' mean geographically and linguistically challenged?
"Diplomacy: What Not To Do" by Mahmoud Abbas (foreward by Yasser Arafat)
John, You are a mortal and therefore your days are numbered. Israel and the Jewish people are eternal