Palestinian aspirations

The UN approval will increase Palestinians’ confidence in winning support for a state of their own despite numerous challenges ahead.

The UN draft resolution has received wide support from UN member countries. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said before Parliament that France will vote for the resolution.

Earlier, 132 countries of the total 193 members recognized the Palestinian state. Portugal, Switzerland and most recently the UK have agreed to support the resolution.

Palestine needs support from two thirds of UN members. Moreover, at the UN General Assembly, the US doesn’t have the right to veto and the vote doesn’t need UN Security Council approval, so this vote is expected to be a diplomatic and spiritual victory for the Palestinians.

But, many challenges remain. The Palestinians themselves are splintering. The Hamas movement, which doesn’t recognize Israel, now controls the Gaza strip and has said leader Mahmoud Abbas is misdirecting the Palestinian people’s aspirations by accepting the 1967 border- the main reason for 80 percent of the Palestinians’ land going to Israel.

The US and Israel say they want an independent Palestinian state but Palestine should achieve it with Israel.

After Mahmoud Abbas submitted the application to the UN, both the US and Israel reacted strongly. Washington said this would break the negotiation process to end the decades-long conflict with Israel. Tel Aviv strongly criticized the application and threatened severe economic sanctions against Palestine.

This reaction is easy to understand because for the Israeli government, recognizing Palestine’s independence means ending its occupation of the Palestinian territory. Obviously, Washington needs to support its key ally in the Middle-East.

During the past 60 years, Palestine-Israel dual statehood has been an international initiative. On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 181 dividing Palestine into two states for the Jewish and Palestinians.

A few months later, international law allowed Israel to establish a Jewish state and granted nation status to Israel, with full membership in international organizations including the UN.

The Palestinians have been seeking their own state since that time. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (ILO) has since 1988 undertaken various measures to seek equality for Palestine. It introduced a solution setting up an independent state on the 1967 borderline with Israel, which was set up on 80 percent of the Palestinian land.

Since the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991, the Palestinians have not been able to set up their own state. The Israel-Palestine Peace process has continuously failed. Israel always says it’s ready for negotiations but always rejects any pre-conditions.

Meanwhile, Palestine says it will not negotiate unless Israel stops building Jewish settlements in East and West Jerusalem- Palestinian territory that Israel has occupied and the Gaza strip. Washington’s support for Israel has contributed to the failure of the Middle-east peace process.

It’s now time for the Palestinians to enjoy freedom in their sovereign land after many years of suffering and isolation. Their just aspirations are supported by the international community.  Whether being a full member of the UN or not, Palestine has to settle territorial disputes with Israel.

So the UN recognition of Palestine’s upgraded status can only achieve a modest result: Attracting public’s attention and kick-starting a process, which nobody knows when it ends.