Palestinian UN Bid Moving One Small Step at a Time

The UN Security Council today agreed to refer Palestinian application for UN membership to a special committee which will begin examining its request Friday.

Council members met briefly this morning to make the announcement, the first step in a process that could likely take weeks, or longer, before any final decision. 

The Palestinian Authority’s Envoy at the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters he was pleased Security Council members had started the initial process preparing for deliberation over Palestine’s admission request .

” As you see, the process is moving forward step by step, and we hope that the Security Council will shoulder its responsibility and approve our application…” he told reporters outside the Security Council. 

 The Palestinian Authority would need 9 of the Security Council’s 15 members to vote in favor of the resolution, with no votes against coming from the security body’s five veto-wielding permanent members.(China, Russia, France, UK, US)

American officials have already indicated they would veto a resolution on Palestinian UN membership should it come before the Security Council, although it remains unclear if the the Palestinian Authority has secured the necessary 9 votes of support from other members of the Council. 

The Palestinian envoy also condemned the Israeli government’s decision yesterday to approve the construction of over 1000 housing units in East Jerusalem, calling it “provocative”, “illegal” and evidence the Netanyahu government has no regard for the international community’s peace plan. 

Mansour said the move was “a clear answer by the Israeli government to the Quartet, to negotiations and to the refusal of abiding by the global consensus on the fact that settlements are legal obstacle to peace and they need to be stopped.”

“This speaks clearly that Israel is not interested in negotiating with us, in spite of the fact they say they like to do so. Their action speaks louder than what they say verbally.” he added.

The Palestinian President and Israeli Prime Minister butted heads over the issue of settlements in their speeches last week to the General Assembly, with Mahmoud Abbas arguing that continued expansion was preventing the resumption of negotiations and Benjamin Netanyahu charging back that it was the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, not settlements, that had ended talks. 

The UN and the large majority of international community consider settlement activity to be illegal. The Obama administration’s official position is that they are illegitimate and an impedement to the peace process. 

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor dismissed Mansour’s accusations over the latest settlement expansion, arguing that Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people, but also conceding that Israeli officials would be open to negotiations on the matter.  

“Every thing is on the table, everything is negotiable. I hear the Palestinians using every pretext in order to find a reason not to go into negotiations. All we want… is for both sides to sit down and negotiate everything, nothing is off the table.” he told reporters outside the Security Council. “We’ve started a process, and the process at the end of the day should be between Palestinians and Israelis talking about everything without any preconditions, in Jerusalem and in Ramallah.” 

The Middle East Quartet -Russia, United States, European Union and United Nations- issued a statement last week after Abbas filed the Palestinian request for UN membership, appealing to both sides to urgently return to negotiations and respect their obligations under the Middle East Roadmap. 

The Quartet statement also outlines timeline for the possible resumption of negotiations and calls on both parties to submit proposals on territory and security within the next three months.

Both Mansour and Prosor said their governments were in the process of reviewing the Quartet statement and expected official responses by the end of the week. 

Middle East Quartet Stands Behind Obama On Israel-Palestine Issue

The diplomatic group tasked with facilitating negotiations between Israel and Palestinians has voiced support for President Obama’s vision for Middle East peace. 

  “The members of the Quartet are in full agreement about the urgent need to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.” said a statement issued by the UN, EU. US and Russian Federation. “The Quartet agrees that moving forward on the basis of territory and security provides a foundation for Israeli and Palestinians to reach a final resolution to the conflict through serious and substantive negotiations and mutual agreement on all core issues.”  

 On Thursday Obama said the creation of a Palestinian state should be based on the recognition of the 1967 borders, drawing criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu and various political pundits.

 Netanyahu responded to Obama’s Middle East address by saying the 1967 borders were “indefensible”. Israel’s PM met with President Obama earlier today.

 Adherence to the 1967 border could force Israel to roll back existing settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, although in his speech Obama also mentioned “land swaps” as a possible option. 

 While Obama’s relationship with the Netanyahu government has been marked by public disagreements on key issues the US continues to stand by Israel at the United Nations. 

On Thursday, Obama indicated that he would reject a UN resolution on Palestinian statehood or any other measure aimed at pressuring Israel. 

In February, the US was the only UN Security Council member to block a resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion.

Last fall, the US was unsuccessful in its attempts to convince Israel to extend a moratorium on settlement construction in the Occupied Territories and the administration continues to lobby Israeli officials on the matter. 

Israel’s decision to the quash the settlement freeze ultimately led the Palestinian leadership to withdraw from peace talks.