Palestinians' Abbas vows UN statehood bid

[krazykat88]

Palestinians' Abbas vows UN statehood bid
Authority chief says he'll push for state in September if no progress in talks

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected Israel's latest vision of a Mideast peace agreement, saying he will unilaterally seek recognition of an independent state at the United Nations if there is no progress

Comments

[krazykat88]

Interesting link -because I've always wondered what happens when members of the security council veto something not because it would be bad for the international community, but because it would be bad for their interests. (if that makes sense)

[sophiaserpentia]

Yeah, I was just reading about this, actually. There's a long article about the "United for Peace" provision here (a biased piece, but there's a lot here about the strategies available to the PA at the UN).

[sesmo]

One more Arab pro-Palestinian voice on the UN won't change anything.

That vote would lead to a very interesting legal discussion about whether admitting an entity to the UN furthers "maintenance of international peace and security," given the actual circumstances. Fun with international lawyers. The United for Peace rules were passed to enable the sending of UN peace keepers to a country which has veto powers, not to admit nations into the UN, especially when such an admission is unlikely to cause peace to break out.

[sesmo]

Currently there are more than 20 Arab states in the UN. One of whom is on the Security Council. Tell me again why this is going to help things. It's basically an attempt at delegitimizing Israel further. I get that goal, but I don't get why generally liberal Americans support it.

[maclyn]

No, it's an attempt to get official recognition for themselves. It's about Palestine being legitimised, rather than them somehow deligitimising another state just by offically existing.

[poddleduck]

Letting Palestinians have an official voice at the table as a recognized country only delegitimizes Israel if Israel chooses to make its definition hinge on the suppression of Palestine.

[krazykat88]

how is it delegitimizing Israel?
(no, really. I have yet to hear someone explain this in a way that doesn't involve racism-fail) (deleted previous comment because the it was rambly)

[caerfrli]

Israel will never go along with anything the UN comes up with--not with what that institution's been doing all these years.

[bethos]

Considering that Israel attained statehood in the first place on the backs of a UN vote, I'd think that they'd have a hard time attacking the legitimacy of this move without getting some serious egg on their face. Not that you couldn't already make several breakfasts off of Israel's face...

[sesmo]

They are the only country excluded from participating on the Security Council. Plus, there is that whole "Zionism is Racism" debacle. And the decidedly unusual focus on Israel by a host of committees. Plus all Emergency Special Sessions over the past 15 years have only focused on Israel. No Emergency Special Sessions were convened to examine the genocide in Rwanda, ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, or other major world conflicts.