By Ted Belman
Now that Brazil and Argentina and other Latin American states are recognizing Palestine within ’67 borders I would remind you that when Palestine first declared itself about 10 years ago, 86 states recognized it.
In my article, Will President Palin end the futile “peaceprocess”, I wrote,
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The Jerusalem Centre for Public affairs published a paper on International Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State: Legal and Policy Dilemmas by Tal Becker. He writes “The Palestinian entity does not become a state under international law merely by a unilateral declaration to that effect. To be eligible for recognition it must satisfy specific legal criteria. Indeed, under international law, the recognition of an entity which clearly fails to meet these criteria constitutes an unlawful and invalid act.”
These criteria include,
• Is There an Effective and Independent Government?
• Does the Palestinian Entity Possess a Defined Territory?
• Does the Palestinian Entity have the Capacity to Freely Engage in Foreign Relations?
• Is There Effective and Independent Control Over a Permanent Population?
• Unilateral Palestinian Attempts to Acquire the Attributes of Statehood”
Becker takes the position that a state declared by the PA meets none of those criteria. Nevertheless, many countries could possible ignore international law and recognize Palestine anyway. What then?
“Palestine” would be a state in name only without sovereignty or independence, at least no more than they have now. It would signal the end of the Oslo Accords and the Roadmap and UNSC Res 242 upon which they are based. Israel would be free to set its own borders even to the Jordon River. It could do this by simply extending Israeli law over all of Judea and Samaria, save for Palestinian population centers.
It is for these reasons, that not only will the US and Europe be reluctant to recognize such a state but that also the PA is unlikely to declare it without their support.
It is clear that momentum is building for states to recognized Palestine with ’67 borders. The European states will be next. Can the US be far behind?
What then? We will still be in possession of the whole land and will no longer be bound by Res 242 or the Roadmap.
Will Israel begin annexation of wait for the international community to go beyond recognition?
Julia,
I’m sorry you were robbed and kidnapped and sexually humiliated in Tel Aviv, and I’m glad you survived the sorry experience.
However, are you aware that there would have been no war in the Middle East if the Palestinians had accepted Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state in 1947?
Are you aware that they didn’t even try to negotiate their grievances through the Brits or UN but decided to take the law into their own hands and to annex Israel by force in 1948?
Are you aware that they have still not accepted Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state 63 years later – even though all its neighbors are Muslim states?
Are you aware that the founding charters of the three dominant forces in the Palestinian community, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad require them to wipe Israel off the map? Can you conceive what this means?
What, pray tell, is Israel supposed to “talk” or “negotiate” about under these circumstances?
I’m just amazed they have not settled their problem the way Genghis Khan would have done.
These acts of recognition run counter to statements by Brazil and Argentina in the United Nations Security Council in 1967 in favor of freely negotiated borders between the parties and an internationally sponsored peace negotiation process as set out in Resolution 242.
See our new report by Alan Baker: Recognition of a Palestinian State – Premature,
Legally Invalid, and Undermining any Bona Fide Negotiation Process
http://tiny.cc/4x85v
Imperialism and Capitalism run on the poverty and war in other places in 2010. These ongoing wars in Middle East have made huge sums of money for certain people and corporations. They have every reason to continue instigating and implementing any war anywhere for the reason of profit. Recently U.S. announced huge sale of jets to Saudi Arabia and also a big deal to Israel also for war toys. The formula is really very simple so there is little obvious stimulant or motivation to resolve this constant Palestine/Israel war. Diplomacy has been a joke. I noticed very few of the wikileaks cables so far are about Israel. The general run of the news seems to indicate Israel is getting more right wing and more beastial in their aggressive self-defense. I lived in Israel once. I saw a society of one horror after another. I was robbed and kidnapped and sexually humilliated and tortured for 3 days in Tel Aviv while applying for an apartmnt. I was treated very very badly by Tel Aviv and other police. I had travelled for years and was never attacked or raped — travelled all through moslem countries. Not until Israel did this happen. Oregon Coast.