Palestinians make history at UN

[AkhandIndia]

UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas made history in his people’s long quest for statehood as he formally asked the United Nations on Friday to admit Palestine as a full member state.

Snubbing fierce opposition from Israel and its regional ally the United States, Abbas handed the application letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon at 1535 GMT buoyed by more than 120 nations which have already recognized a Palestinian state.

He made the request in a letter, handed to Ban in a white folder adorned with a Palestinian eagle logo.

“The American administration did everything in its power to disrupt our project, but we are going through with it despite the obstacles and the pressure because we are asking for our rights,” Abbas said late Thursday.

“There are small countries in the world that have gained their freedom and independence, but we still haven’t got ours,” he told the Palestinian community in New York.

Reaction from Israel was swift, with a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling AFP, “We regret the step.”

Ban will now pass the landmark request to the UN Security Council, but a vote on admitting the Palestinians as a full member state could take weeks, leaving time for more diplomatic wrangling.

Palestinians were seized by the historic nature of the moment, which comes more than six decades after the creation of Israel in 1948.

Across city centers in the West Bank giant television screens has been set up so residents could watch Abbas deliver his historic address to the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly.

In Ramallah, the political capital of the West Bank, many cars were flying the Palestinian flag, and posters of Abbas and his late predecessor Yasser Arafat festooned the streets.

But fearing a spurt of violence, some 22,000 Israeli police and border police were on high alert with forces deployed along the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank, in annexed east Jerusalem, and around Arab Israeli towns.

In a sign of the tensions, a Palestinian was shot dead in clashes with Israeli troops that erupted after settlers attacked a village near Nablus on the West Bank.

Besides dealing a blow to Israel’s position in future peace negotiations, UN recognition of a Palestinian state could allow increased international rights, which some fear the Palestinians may use to launch legal action against Israeli military action.

Israeli officials have warned of harsh retaliatory measures if the Palestinians succeed in their bid, including a halt to funding for the Palestinian Authority. Right-wing members of the government have gone so far as to call for annexation of the West Bank.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were due to make almost back-to-back addresses to the UN General Assembly around midday (1600 GMT) to set out their opposing visions of how to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Last-minute bargaining to divert the Palestinians from their course resumed Friday with a meeting of negotiators from the Middle East Quartet, the United States, Russia, the European Union and United Nations.

Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Thursday’s talks ended around 530 GMT, and a senior US official confirmed “quartet envoys are meeting this morning (Friday).”

They are trying to hammer out a possible statement which could bring the two sides back to direct talks which have stalled since September 2010.

The United States has vowed to veto the bid at the UN Security Council, with the Palestinians needing to win the backing of nine of the 15 council members.

If that bid fails, they may well seek to be admitted as a non-member observer state by the General Assembly.

A French suggestion that Palestine be given an intermediate status as a United Nations observer nation remained on the table, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s spokesman said Friday despite what he said were “Israeli reservations”.

US President Barack Obama insisted to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that only new Israeli-Palestinian talks could bring lasting peace.

His speech sparked angry demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza, with Palestinians accusing Obama of a double standard for praising the Arab Spring protests while seeking to block Palestinian dreams of statehood.

Abbas was to leave New York after giving his UN speech to return to the Palestinian territories for consultations on the next step forward.

Palestinians make history at UN | World | DAWN.COM

 

[nirreich]

A Palestinian state could only be established as part of a permanent peace agreement with Israel and in a unilateral way as a step to pressurise Israel.

 

[AkhandIndia]

A Palestinian state could only be established as part of a permanent peace agreement with Israel and in a unilateral way as a step to pressurise Israel.

its is far from reality..but they tried..its ok

 

[nirreich]

its is far from reality..but they tried..its ok

No, they did not. They are trying to dictate Israel their terms for the final agreement.

 

[Zabaniyah]

US President Barack Obama insisted to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that only new Israeli-Palestinian talks could bring lasting peace.

Haven't they tried that before?

 

[JayAtl]

Haven't they tried that before?

the best darn deal where the pla people got the sun, moon and stars was when Bill Clinton had Israeli give away more than ever was and will be to arafat. But the greedy arafat showed his hand- that the cause of was not for true peace, rather continuation of having his coffers filled. that kind of deal will never happen ever again- what a shame

 

[Zabaniyah]

the best darn deal where the pla people got the sun, moon and stars was when Bill Clinton had Israeli give away more than ever was and will be to arafat. But the greedy arafat showed his hand- that the cause of was not for true peace, rather continuation of having his coffers filled. that kind of deal will never happen ever again- what a shame

Dear, you are forgetting the fact that Israel would still control Palestinian air space, water resources and port operations during the Camp David deal back in 2000.

It didn't end Israel's military operation either. It was just 'repackaged'.

What the Palestinians and its supporters want is to have a viable state living side-by-side with Israel in peace, not some satellite state in which Israel is in charge of everything.

Here:

Why did the Palestinians reject the Camp David Peace Proposal?

For a true and lasting peace between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, there must be two viable and independent states living as equal neighbors. Israel's Camp David proposal, which was never set forth in writing, denied the Palestinian state viability and independence by dividing Palestinian territory into four separate cantons entirely surrounded, and therefore controlled, by Israel. The Camp David proposal also denied Palestinians control over their own borders, airspace and water resources while legitimizing and expanding illegal Israeli colonies in Palestinian territory. Israel's Camp David proposal presented a 're-packaging' of military occupation, not an end to military occupation.

Source: Washington Report: Frequently Asked Questions

 

[mr42O]

A Palestinian state could only be established as part of a permanent peace agreement with Israel and in a unilateral way as a step to pressurise Israel.

Isreal ? which stat is it ??

 

[Patriot]

its is far from reality..but they tried..its ok

Freedom is not easy to earn..It takes a lot of sweat, blood and hard work to earn freedom.As a Indian you should know better or perhaps you have some lost love for your Colonial Masters.

 

[nirreich]

Israel wants a de-militarised Palestinian state that would be unable to hurt Isreal with terror and other military means.

Due to the hatred of the Palestinians against Israel and their creativity in finding new ways to harm the Israeli people (from taking hostages, to suicide bomber, hijacking planes, attacking shopping malls, firing rockets on kindergardens, etc.) it seems like a reasonable demand.

 

[JayAtl]

Dear, you are forgetting the fact that Israel would still control Palestinian air space, water resources and port operations during the Camp David deal back in 2000.

It didn't end Israel's military operation either. It was just 'repackaged'.

What the Palestinians and its supporters want is to have a viable state living side-by-side with Israel in peace, not some satellite state in which Israel is in charge of everything.

Here:


Source: Washington Report: Frequently Asked Questions

your source is dubious and their agenda is to opine all things pro Pla and anti Israel.

From Clinton's own written Biography

I'm sure that all the rest of us made our mistakes along the way. But this was an error of historic proportions," Clinton said referring to Arafat's refusal of the peace deal offered at Camp David in 2000.

"And the evidence of it is, that about a year after I left office, Mr. Arafat said he wanted to deal. He said, 'I'm ready to accept the parameters for final negotiation that president Clinton laid out,' " the ex-president told the news program.

"So I don't think I need to say anything else, to show that it was a mistake. And by the time he said he wanted it, he had an Israeli government that wouldn't give it to him, and an Israeli public that no longer trusted him. It's tragic," Clinton added.

 

[nirreich]

Isreal ? which stat is it ??

Israel was established through international recognition of the League of Nation and the UN. The Palestinians rejected the UN proposal for their own state in 1947 and tried to destroy the state of Israel.

As a result of the Palestinians' murdering behaviour they missed the opportunity of 1947 and now their state should be established only through negotiation with Israel.

 

[Zabaniyah]

Freedom is not easy to earn..It takes a lot of sweat, blood and hard work to earn freedom.As a Indian you should know better or perhaps you have some lost love for your Colonial Masters.

Yep, freedom certainly doesn't come cheap.

Palestine will be born Inshallah.

 

[mr42O]

Israel wants a de-militarised Palestinian state that would be unable to hurt Isreal with terror and other military means.

Due to the hatred of the Palestinians against Israel and their creativity in finding new ways to harm the Israeli people (from taking hostages, to suicide bomber, hijacking planes, attacking shopping malls, firing rockets on kindergardens, etc.) it seems like a reasonable demand.

And what does Isreal ?? since its illegale birth ?

 

[AkhandIndia]

Freedom is not easy to earn..It takes a lot of sweat, blood and hard work to earn freedom.As a Indian you should know better or perhaps you have some lost love for your Colonial Masters.

so they can go and earn freedom