Haaretz reported the other day that Palestinian leaders were thinking of declaring a state within the 1967 borders, and that Netanyahu was seeking a promise from Obama to veto such a declaration. Hardworking Marsha Cohen points out that this is an old theme:
Jerusalem Post, June 28, 1996
FOLLOWING Binyamin Netanyahu’s election victory, Yasser Arafat has threatened to declare a Palestinian state "with Jerusalem as its capital" if the new Israeli government does not meet his demands.
al Hayat, November 06, 2001
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is considering unilaterally declaring Palestinian statehood when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly session over the weekend, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper reports. The newspaper said Arafat has reason to believe he has the support of many countries and that making such a statement would cement the reality of a Palestinian state.
WAFA: March 5, 2007
At the closing 127th session of the League of Arab States held in Cairo, the Ministers affirmed that the State of Palestine is a complete partner in the peace process, rejecting all Israeli unilateral procedures and endeavors to fix its own borders.
Xinhua, Feb. 21, 2008
The Palestinians can declare their statehood unilaterally if talks with Israel fail, a senior aide to President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday. “We can declare the independence unilaterally if the current negotiations fail to achieve results,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team, told Voice of Palestine radio.
Trend News, Aug. 26, 2009
The White House Administration and the European Union will recognize an independent Palestinian state if it is announced by 2011, official representative of the Palestinian Administration in Cairo, Nabil Shaath, said.
Neither Y-Net nor J-Post make any mention of the "Palestinians to Declare State Now" story. In fact, Ali Waked writes in Y-Net today (Nov. 7)
Senior operative says Abbas’ retirement may force Fatah to resort to violent protests, stone-throwing Following Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ announcement that he would not run for another term, a senior Fatah official told Ynet that if serious progress was not made soon in peace talks, the organization would consider reverting to popular warfare…
Why not? What have the Palestinians got to lose? The whole damn world will agree to a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders except for the US and Israel.
Then again, on second thought, that really wouldn’t do anything about the Israeli war machine. You’d have the Palestinian state for maybe a day and then Israeli tanks and war planes would do all over it what they did to Gaza almost a year ago.
So in retrospect, it seems to me that the Palestinians seeking a one state solution is actually still better than this gambit.
I saw Ha’aretz coverage in which there was a suggestion that Obama had already given tacit agreement to the Fayyad plan. But it’s the one-state side that seems to have the most legs.
One hopes the Palestinian leaders know better than to take the Obama Administration at its nudge-nudge wink-wink.
Who would be the Palestinian to announce it? Israel unilaterally declared itself a state, and what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. The Palestinians should just do it, and announce it to the world. Lack of fixed borders shouldn’t be a problem; all that can be worked out later–What is the main reason it has already not been done? It should be declared and a request should go simultaneously to the UN for recognition. All interested parties would be put on the spot, in a world kleig light.
Ben Netanyahu is on CSPAN now speaking to the Jewish Federation of North America.
“Jews brought to the world 3 ideas: (1) monotheism, (2) all people have innate rights, and (3) a prophetic
notion of world peace.” Now, he’s reading out a list of very disproportionate Jewish contributions in the arts, technology, etc. Now, he’s reading out a list of how history
has tried to destroy the Jews. Now he’s saying the USA-Israeli alliance is a cornerstone
of Jewish security, supported by 2% of USA population. A small Israel demands a secure peace; peace with Israel’s arab neighbors is the way go; a start towards economic prosperity for all in the region has been made; no time to waste; his goal is not endless negotiations but to achieve peace with the Pals, and soon; to get to this, we have to stop negotiating about negotiations; we need a demilitaryized Pal state; his policy is always religious tolerance; a Jewish state means Pals must recognize that they cannot flood Israel with refugees and announce the conflict is over; it may take years for the spirit of this peace to be internalized by the Pals; Israel is powerful, but it is small, and regardless of boundaries, will remain small. Israel is only bigger than RI.
Not all small countries that are small are insecure, e.g., Belgium and Luxembourg–but they don’t face Israel’s security threats, e..g., the ship from Iran bound for Syria with weapons Israel just confiscated. Hezballah rockets can reach Israel, etc. He’s ready to make great concessions for peace, but will never risk Israel’s security. We can’t permit another Lebanon or Gaza “in the heart of our country.” The UN report on Gaza falsely accuses Israel of war crimes. Rejection of Goldstone Report sends message to all
Israel will defend itself and Obama is to be praised, as is US Congress, for condemning the Goldstone Report. Thanks also goes to Canada for supporting Israel’s self defense.
The recent US-Israel military exercise is to be praised. 1400 US military personnel participated.
Israel is not just talking peace; we’ve removed hundreds of roadblocks, checkpoints, loosened bureaucratic red tape for Pals to grow economically–they’re life is better these days, their businesses are booming–I will do more of the same to further Pal prosperity. But we must begin and complete peace negotiations; my regime has gone further than any past Israeli regime to make peace possible. We need a committed Pal partner to achieve peace, one willing to shoulder the risks as we have been. Another great challenge is to prevent the anti-semitic, terrorist regime of Iran (both domestically and internationally) from realizing its nuclear ambitions. The 3rd big challenge is how to reduce the world’s dependence on oil; can we dramatically reduce our oil dependence? Salt as preservation tool once once king, but science reduced its high stature. Israeli innovation is changing the world; Israel is the start up nation–
we lead the world in desalination and solar energy. These tasks are major, but Herzel
showed how a clear plan and sense of urgency can overcome a huge hurdle like the Jewish sense of powerlessness. “The tragedy of the Jewish people is that we don’t believe in ourselves,” Herzel said, but it can be done, is no dream–the hardest task is in the Jewish people’s reach. “We can steer humanity towards a better future for all.”
Did he really saw something along the lines of, We can’t permit another Lebanon or Gaza “in the heart of our country”? And then turn around and say that the Goldstone report is false?
I’m trying to picture in my head how that would sounded. “We cannot allow war crimes, like the ones we did to Gaza and Lebanon, happen on our soil. But they aren’t war crimes when we do it to others, so the Goldstone report must be rejected!”
It was the illegal PM of the PA, Fayyad, who said he would do this.
It has been done before, I thought.
I don’t know if it’s a good idea, there are certainly ways Israel can spin it (the illusion of Palestinian empowerment as a threat, or a counterpoint to arguments about Palestinian oppression). But maybe there would be benefits, in terms of publicity. It certainly wouldn’t change anything on the ground, and I lean towards the idea that it would help (as does the whole two-state framework) obfuscate the realities of the situation in a damaging way.