Abbas at UN last yer
When I first read the report ‘Israel demands statement from Obama about Iran attack by Yom Kippur‘ —
“Obama to say clearly that the United States will take military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program either at the UN General Assembly on September 25…”
I immediately recalled the news I had seen earlier about President Abbas petitioning the UN General Assembly in September to upgrade the Palestinian Authority’s UN status to that of a non-member observer. As the New York Times stated a few days ago:
That would give the Palestinians access to organizations like the International Criminal Court, where they hope to pursue claims against Israel on matters like settlements
So let’s connect some of the dots. Check out this trajectory:
August 4, 2012, CBS: Abbas to move on UN membership bid in September:
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will take a first procedural step toward seeking U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine when he addresses the General Assembly in late September, but has not decided when to ask for a vote on his request, the Palestinian foreign minister said Saturday.
Timing is seen as crucial in the Palestinian bid to be recognized as a non-member observer state by the U.N. General Assembly
August 8, 2012, AFP: US ‘pushing Palestinians to delay UN bid’
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Washington is pressing the Palestinian leadership to delay a fresh bid to seek upgraded UN status until after the US elections, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday.
“There are pressures from the United States and some Arab parties to delay the voting until after the United States presidential elections, due in November,” PLO Executive Committee member Saleh Raafat told Voice of Palestine radio.
On Saturday, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said president Mahmud Abbas would on September 27 make a fresh request to upgrade the Palestinians’ UN status from that of an observer entity to a non-member state.
The request is to be made exactly a year after Abbas tried to obtain full member status. Despite his high-profile effort, the request was never put to a vote in the UN Security Council, where the United States had pledged to veto it….
Thursday, August 9, 2012, Jweekly: New U.N. statehood bid for Palestinians?
The Palestinian Authority is considering a bid next month to be a U.N. “non-member observer state.” P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas is ready to take the step, and has the backing of the Arab League, but has not yet decided when he will go ahead, according to the Associated Press.
August 9, 2012 5:23 PM EDT, International Business Times: US Begs Palestinians to Procrastinate On Statehood Bid, Gets No For An Answer
“There are pressures from the United States and some Arab parties to delay the voting until after the United States presidential elections, due in November,” PLO Executive Committee member Saleh Raafat told Voice of Palestine radio, according to AFP.
But Palestinian leaders say they are adamant about insisting on a vote, and will push ahead with their plans. Raafat told Voice of Palestine that Palestine will “reject this demand and insist on heading to the U.N. in September.”
At least count, over 150 countries were slated to vote “yes” to Palestinian statehood, according to a spokesman for the Palestinian Authoirty’s Mission to the U.N. That number is more than enough to pass the measure and elevate Palestine from observer to non-member state status.
Israel, in return, has threatened to annex much of the West Bank if Palestine’s statehood comes to a vote.
It’s been rumored that the Palestinians would make another push to have the U.N. vote them into statehood status at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September, but now the U.S. is trying to convince the Palestinian Authority to delay the vote.
August 10, 2012, Haaretz, YNET, +972, Reuters via this site: Barak to US: Be afraid, be very afraid of ‘the sword at our throat’
The Israeli press went on steroids over the weekend pushing an attack on Iran, and it’s getting mass coverage.
August 13, 2012, NYT, Jodi Rudoren: Palestinian Seeks Diplomatic Allies
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, asked diplomats from two dozen countries on Monday to support the Palestinian Authority’s renewed bid for observer-state status at the United Nations, calling it “a test of the whole rule of law.” Speaking in East Jerusalem to envoys from countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, Ms. Ashrawi asked them not only to vote for the future United Nations resolution on observer-state status, possibly this fall, but to provide the Palestinian Authority with a financial “safety net” when, she predicted, “Americans decide to cut off aid” because of the bid. The Palestinians’ plan is to petition the United Nations General Assembly, where passage is all but assured. That would give the Palestinians access to organizations like the International Criminal Court, where they hope to pursue claims against Israel on matters like settlements.
August 14, 2012, Maariv: Israel demands statement from Obama about Iran attack by Yom Kippur
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak expect US President Barack Obama to say clearly that the United States will take military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program either at the UN General Assembly on September 25, which is the eve of Yom Kippur, or on some other public platform by that date.
August 14, 2012, Times of Israel (via our site): Obama set to assure Israel that, if all else fails, US will attack Iran ….
American and Israeli officials are working to arrange a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at which the White House will assure Israel that the US will use force to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons drive by next June at the latest if the Islamic Republic has not halted its program by then, Israel’s Channel 10 news reported on Tuesday night.
The meeting will take place in New York or Washington at the end of September or the very beginning of October, the report said. ……
Despite incessant reports from Israel asserting that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are strongly inclined toward ordering an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in September or October, the US administration tends not to believe that Israel would go ahead and attack Iran alone and in defiance of the US, the report said. Nonetheless, Washington is not certain of what Israel may do.
……..
It would be unthinkable for Israel to strike at Iran before any such Obama-Netanyahu meeting, the report said, and similarly unthinkable afterwards — since Obama would provide the necessary reassurance for Israel to hold its fire.
Netanyahu is already tentatively scheduled to fly to the US at the end of September to address the UN General Assembly.
August 14, 2012, YNET: Arab League to present UN with new PA bid?
The Palestinian Authority is pursuing a new bid for statehood ahead of the next UN General Assembly meeting in New York City in September
August 14, 2012, Mondoweiss : Mearsheimer: 7 reasons Netanyahu & Barak might like war with Iran
4. Iranian nuclear weapons are an important issue for sure, but it is even more important that we be able to continue expanding settlements in Judea and Samaria and prevent a two-state solution. Threatening a war with Iran has done much to take the Palestinian issue off the front burner in recent months. An actual war – especially since it will be protracted – will insulate us from meaningful criticism for at least a few years. By then, the two-state solution will be dead and buried. All of this is very important if Obama wins a second term, because then he will start leaning on us again to allow the Palestinians to have a viable state of their own.
And now check out Joseph Dana’s twitter: August 15:
What’s the point of Israel’s psychological warfare against Iran? —Simple, ensure we don’t talk about Palestinians
August 16, 2012, Xinhua: Islamic Summit Endorses Palestinian Bid for UN Membership
The Islamic Summit held in Saudi Arabia this week endorsed the Palestinian bid for UN membership, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian efforts to achieve the status of Non-member State at the UN received unanimous support from 57 countries in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) who participated in the Mecca summit.
Abbas can be counted on by his US paymasters as continuing to suffer from the slows. He can be counted upon to put on a show and nothing but.
Israel’s campaign against Iran has zero to do with the Palestinians, their issues with Iran are out of genuine concern with Iran. The Palestinians on the other hand do not need press buzz or any further support to proceed at the UN. If they actually want it, they simply need to go do it, the results are guaranteed.
But of course, it will not be an action without consequences. And if they think their fellow Arabs will bail them out financially, they are dreaming.
Lipkin Shahak slams Israeli leadership over rift with US By JPOST.COM STAFFLAST UPDATED: 08/18/2012 20:26Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin Shahak on Saturday slammed Israeli leadership for creating a rift between Israel and the US over the Iranian nuclear issue.
Speaking on Channel 2’s Meet the Press, Lipkin Shahak said “Coordination with the United States… is extremely important… How did we arrive a this situation, in which bilateral coordination with the US is at such a low level?
Lipkin Shahak also defended President Shimon Peres for speaking in public about the need for US approval on an Iran strike. “The Iranian issue is not a private issue for the Prime Minister [Binyamin Netanyahu] or the Defense Minister [Ehud Barak,]” he said, adding “the prime minister and the defense minister are the ones that told the Iranians that Israel is ready to attack. Not Peres.”
…obama make a commitment falling on the timeframe of the UN General Assembly merely a coincidence.
Maybe, but many threads have led to this situation. Netanyahu’s own political future may be one. He can’t actually be said to have guided Israel anywhere positive and he must feel the clouds darkening overhead. After all, he’s only 63. US public support for his policies is weakening, global opinion is turning against him, thinking Israelis are increasingly concerned about him, social unrest is stirring, the settlers and ultra-orthodox are rocking the domestic boat, Gulf totalitarianism looks likely to follow Mubarak. Remember what Obama and Sarkozy were overheard saying about him? He hasn’t the status to be awarded an international role. What future does he have? President of the country he led to international pariah status if not virtual extinction? He may feel up a creek without a paddle and simply be brazening it out, pretending to be pragmatic, hoping for a miracle.
RE: “American and Israeli officials are working to arrange a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at which the White House will assure Israel that the US will use force to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons drive by next June at the latest. . . ” ~ Times of London
MY COMMENT: I suppose we can assume that Netanyahu has already obtained this assurance from Romney. Now, unless by the end of September or so Obama matches Romney’s commitment to attack Iran [including Obama’s taking certain concrete actions and/or making certain statements in public (because Netanyahu isn’t about to rely solely on Obama keeping his word as to private commitments)], Netanyahu is at least implicitly threatening to wreak havoc on the November elections by attacking Iraq this October.
This is nothing short of an “extortion racket” like those most commonly practiced by organized crime groups.
• Extortion – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion
I, for one, have had enough of it. The U.S. should adamantly refuse to submit to such extortion by Israel even if it means that we run the risk of being the target of Israel’s 200 or so nukes. After all, like the Lost Prophets say: “If You Don’t Stand For Something, You’ll Fall For Anything.”
SPEAKING OF “STANDING FOR SOMETHING”:
• Jill Stein for President (Stein/Honkala 2012) – http://www.jillstein.org/
[Contributions of up to a total of $250 are matched by federal matching funds.]
P.S. No more battered
spousevoter syndrome for me!