Global General

Palestinian leaders vote to go for UN recognition

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-06-27 15:48

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The West Bank Palestinian leadership formally decided to press ahead with efforts in September to win UN recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in what could be a further blow to efforts to restart long-frozen Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

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Leading members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement met Sunday and later said in a statement that the goal is to bring a state of Palestine into the family of nations of the world.

The group approved the approach in principle. The statement did not say what form of UN recognition the Palestinians are seeking or what steps they might take after such a nod from the world body.

Palestinian officials hope that UN recognition would force Israel to make concessions when negotiations resume.

Recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN General Assembly would carry considerable diplomatic weight but would not carry legal clout. Only the UN Security Council can add a nation to the world body, and the US government has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the move, signaling it will veto such a resolution.

Israel has denounced the Palestinian UN initiative, charging that it torpedoes efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

President Barack Obama has offered a formula under which a Palestinian state would be set up with borders based on the pre-1967 war cease-fire lines that delineate the West Bank, with agreed upon swaps of territory between the two sides. Previous Israeli governments have agreed to the concept, but that did not result in a peace accord.

The current Israeli leadership, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has reacted coolly to the Obama proposal. Netanyahu has rejected an Israeli withdrawal from all of the West Bank and wants to retain Israeli control of east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians as their capital. Israel pulled out of Gaza unilaterally in 2005.

Palestinians have insisted that peace negotiations can resume only if Israel stops all construction in its West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, also considered settlements by the Palestinians and much of the world.

Netanyahu curbed settlement construction for 10 months last year, but has refused to renew the restrictions or halt all construction on war-won land.

The Palestinians would be assured of a comfortable majority in favor of recognition of their state at the General Assembly session in September, as about 100 nations have already recognized a Palestinian state in one form or another. A UN vote would boost Palestinian prestige and further isolate Israel, but the path from there to an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and from there to an actual independent Palestinian state, is difficult to chart.

The settlements in their already existing form are one of the main sticking points. About 300,000 Israelis live in more than 100 communities scattered across the territory. Israeli military posts and checkpoints dot the West Bank to protect them, limiting Palestinian access and freedom of movement.

The largest settlements are closest to the cease-fire line, virtual suburbs of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The smaller ones, in the heart of the West Bank, are home to some of the most strident Israeli nationalist and religious hard-liners who believe either that Israel must keep control of the West Bank for security reasons or that it is the biblical Land of Israel that belongs to the Jews _ or both.

Even Netanyahu, who backed unbridled settlement activity for decades, has indicated in public that the settlements farthest from Israel proper would not be part of Israel in a peace deal, while the largest ones would be incorporated into the Jewish state. He has taken no steps toward implementing that idea, and if he did, it would cost him the support of most of his backers from hard-line and Orthodox Jewish parties, including his own Likud, and likely bring down his government.

Conflicting signals have been emanating from Palestinian officials. While frustrated over the stalemate in contacts with Israel, one senior official close to Abbas suggested the Palestinians would ease their demands for a settlement construction freeze in order to facilitate resumption of peace negotiations because of difficulties with the UN initiative. Not only the US, but also some European nations have expressed reservations, declaring that the way to Mideast peace is through negotiations, not unilateral steps at the UN

However, other Abbas aides have vehemently denied that the Palestinians would soften demands for a settlement freeze.

Also, Abbas' efforts to patch up a rift with Hamas have run aground. The Islamic group overran Gaza in 2007 and expelled forces loyal to Abbas. Several weeks ago the two sides, with Egyptian mediation, announced a framework for reconciliation that was to lead to a joint government, ending the split. Such a unified government would be key to a push for a state.

Since the announcement, however, no further agreements have been announced. The two sides have failed to agree on a prime minister, and there is no sign of progress toward integrating their security forces, as Hamas insists on maintaining control of Gaza even after a unity government takes office.